Tell It To The World
by DraconicMind
Summary: Story of survival in the bleak world around them. Contains most characters, plot is different from the series in some ways. All the main romances in the show will be seen but story is majorly Daryl and Carol and their view of the world, their survival and new coming romance.
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone. It's weird writing a story about something that's not Teen Titans and I find it a little stranger to be writing about people, not cartoons but I've read so many of your wonderful Walking Dead fics that I had to write one too. I'm obsessed with the show and of course like everyone else obsessed with Daryl. I read a lot of things, fanfics and articles and such about his character and I really studied him while watching the series. I'm trying to write him to the best of my ability in a way I think he would act and behave.

That being said this is my first Walking Dead fic but I hope everyone likes it. The romance is not going to be there right away but I promise it will eventually.

The highway was quiet as the first trucked pulled up on its lonely corpse filled streets. Rick, Carl and Hershel exited the vehicle and took in their surroundings. The place was just like he remembered it, a graveyard of human and machine bodies. The young boy hopped onto the hood of the truck and climbed to its roof lookin around him. He pulled out his binoculars and made a complete 360 looking for any sign of life.

Nothing. There was no one there, no one coming.

"We have to keep moving" The sheriff said aloud. The boy shook his head

"We can't leave mom"

"Carl" he started

"No we have to wait for mom and the others" He demanded

"He's right Rick, maybe they'll find their way here. I have to wait for my girls" Hershel spoke

Just then a soft moan came from in front of Rick. He drew his knife and signaled for the other two to get down. Carl lay down on the top of the van while Hershel slid down to the road and held his gun close to him. The walker limped over to where Rick was standing and right when it realized there was food; Rick already had a knife in its skull. It fell to the ground and remained still.

"This is why we can't stay" Rick whispered gesturing to the body. "There are bound to be more" The boy got down from the top of the truck and looked his father in the eyes.

"I won't leave mom" Carl answered from atop the roof. Rick sighed heavily and looked at the boy who was trying so hard to be brave. After everything that the kid had seen, the dead coming back to life, people being eaten alive, the death of little Sophia, the kid was trying his hardest to be like everyone else in the group.

Rick knelt down to his son and looked in the eyes. How could he tell him that his momma was most likely dead? He would be surprised if anyone managed to make it away from that hell.

"It's not safe here" He finally spoke. The boy dropped his gaze and shook his head. That was it then? His mother was gone.

His father suddenly turned around and looked to meet his gaze. He couldn't see anything on account of all the cars but then he heard it. In the silence of mid day he could hear the rumbling, and it was familiar to him. It sounded like….a bike?

His father smiled and he knew something was alright.

Just then Daryl rode in on his brother's bike with Carol on his back. What a hell of night that was riding through the forest collecting all them people. Two other cards were trailing behind slowing to a stop and parking when they got to the road.

Daryl reached the road and cut the engine of the bike. The woman at his back unwrapped her arms from his waist and stepped off going to hug Carl. His hand met with Rick's when he came over and then the other two vehicles came behind him. Beth and Maggie came flying at Hershel while Glenn stepped out the car wiping his forehead.

"Oh thank god" Lori cried bolting from the car and hugging Carl and her husband. T-Dog hung from the door of the car watching with a smile as everyone came together.

They all looked around saw what was going on. Hope. There was finally a sense that something was going right in the world when somehow all of them had managed to come back together.

"How'd everyone get here" Rick asked

"I found em all zig zagging through the forest and led em here" Daryl spoke.

"Were all that's made it" The sheriff spoke.

"Shane?" Lori asked. There was a long pause but Rick finally shook his head. She would find out eventually but now was not the time. Her head fell in defeat.

"Andrea?" Glenn's voice asked

"She saved my life then I lost her" Carol spoke.

"We saw her go down" T-Dog spoke morosely.

"Are you sure?" Carol asked. When no one answered Daryl started to jump back on his bike.

"Imma go back" Daryl spoke.

"No" Rick commanded "You can't go back. She's either far away from there or she's dead"

"Let's just move on. We need a plan" The sheriff spoke. "Where's the map"

Carol, Lori, Beth and Carl stood back and watched everyone else try and debate a plan on where to go. The farm was completely taken over and there was no real idea on which direction the giant herd would move. After Shane started to go haywire his position of second in command fell to the gruff foul tempered Daryl but Rick still had the biggest say in what happened to everyone.

"I say we go east, towards the coast" T-Dog motioned.

"What about Nebraska?" Glenn asked.

"Could be a good idea" Rick answered "But let's weigh our options. Nebraska would be a long trip, and we don't have the luxury of wasting fuel"

They all nodded and the debating continued

Carol sighed heavily as she looked at her surroundings. It was lonely, dead and everything smelled terrible. But there were no signs of any walkers yet, but she knew they would be here soon and by nightfall it would be suicide to stay here. The debating was still going on however. She looked to the members of the group but found that she couldn't draw her gaze away from a certain man in a winged jacket.

_She wandered across the field of the one peaceful farm. The only light she had on this terrible night was the beams of orange light from the barn that had been set on fire. She was alone. Andrea had saved her life and then she lost her. The moans of dead were everywhere around her and she found herself slowing down. She had been running away from them all night. She gasped and turned around to see a large group of them still stumbling quickly towards her. They were catching up to her faster then she could run away._

_She turned the gun on them and aimed at one of their rotten heads. She pressed the trigger but instead of a shot, she heard the devastating sound of a click. She whimpered as she turned around and held the empty gun to her, fleeing in the opposite direction. She sobbed heavily as she tried to keep running. She looked over her shoulder to see that they were closer to her now. She looked all around her and fled towards the fence that was ahead. One of them managed to touch her wrist in an attempt to get her and she screamed out. _

_Help she cried. But she was afraid that no one could hear her. Maybe the others were already dead. Maybe they had left her here to die. No they wouldn't do that, they would leave because they thought she was dead right? No one would come back to save poor Carol. She struggled keep her pace as her breathing got heavier from all the running, the smell of decay, the smoke in the air. The fence was so close to her. She could see it now. But what she could also see was walkers. They were stumbling around absent mindedly. They didn't rush around like the ones on the farm. They just waited in case a hopeless straggler like her came along, dumb enough to find herself in their midst, trapped, alone and without any ammo._

_So this is how it was supposed to end. She looked towards the sky. She was a religious woman, she prayed all the time for her daughter's safety and her own. Why then had God done this to them? Why was this in his plan? Why was Sophia part of his plan? She only hoped that it wouldn't hurt for too long, and then she would be able to see her daughter again. She wandered to the edge of the field where the fence was and saw the opening in it. She had just a few feet of space before there were more walkers. _

_That's when she heard the low steady rumble that was coming towards her. A single headlight shone through the darkness of the night and she was nearly blinded by it, but she ran towards it. She heard the moaning behind her but she was relieved when she saw Daryl upon the bike. He slowed it to a crawl._

"_C'mon we don't have all day" He spoke gruffly. She nodded and swung her leg over the seat of the bike, kicking a walker in the face in the process. She heard something that sounded like an amused chuckle come from him. Her hands were around his thin waist and before she knew it they were speeding off down the gravel road. The walkers tried to keep up with the machine but they couldn't. She gripped his waist tighter as they picked up speed and placed her cheek against his back. _

"_Thank you" She whispered and she knew she wasn't talking to God this time. _

"Heading east would be suicide" she finally heard Rick say. She snapped out of her flashback and looked at her surroundings. Still in the same hell hole of a highway.

T-Dog slumped in defeat but nodded. Rick was right of course.

"If we head east were eventually going to be cut off by the coast. We can't be backed against the wall like that and we sure as hell aren't going to swim or find some magic boat"

"Even if we could get offa the mainlain, the hole worl's infected. We won't find no savior across the sea" Daryl agreed. The group around him nodded. The Dixon boy never really had a lot of say in this group at first. They all thought he was crazy redneck, and while that may be true it was his decision to become a major role in this group. Rick saw something in him and compared to Shane he knew he was a whole lot better for this group. Rick trusted him.

"Daryl's right. And so is Glenn. This side of the country isn't safe. The whole world isn't safe anymore but at least out west, the population is more spread out then these crowded cities. We don't go as far out as California but we don't go down to Texas"

"What about up north?" Maggie suggested

Rick thought about it for a moment. "That might work. If we go up towards Canada, the Dakotas, somewhere around in that area it could be better."

"The further north we go the colder its going to get" Hershel spoke out.

"That could slow the walkers down" Glenn responded

"But it also means we'll have to be prepare for the cold. Winter is already coming here and we are not ready for it. It may be a while before we get up that way but it'll turn winter again and it'll be colder then the Midwest" Hershel spoke.

Rick sighed heavily looking to the people around him. They were counting on his and he didn't want to let them down.

"Alright here's what were going to do" He said and paused "Daryl get the others over here" He spoke. Daryl nodded hitched his crossbow over his shoulder and walked to get the others.

Carol closed her eyes a sighed heavily. There wasn't even any wind this morning to tone down the already hot Georgia sun. She heard the footfalls of someone approaching and saw that Daryl was coming towards the group.

"C'mon" He spoke gruffly to the whole group. "Were getting ready ta move"

The group nodded and walked past him and towards the rest of the group circled around the hood of the car where the map resided. His eyes lingered on the scared blue eyes of Carol locking gazes with her. His gaze was comforting, in an odd sort of way. He had no emotion on his face that even resembled understanding or compassion but somehow she felt….better. She nodded and he dropped her gaze, turning around and heading back towards the group. When she caught up she stood just behind him wiping her sleeve to her forehead.

"Everyone" Rick's voice broke the ongoing conversations. "We've decide that in the best interest of everyone in this group that to survive we need to get out of George and away from the east coast. It's too populated and so were going to head out west and then to the north"

"But it'll be cold up there" Beth squirmed.

"And wont that be bad for the baby?" Lori asked palming her stomach.

"Winter is already almost here. Even as we move west it will get colder, were going to have to deal with the cold sooner or later, and were going to have deal with it as it comes" He answered. Lori looked to Hershel.

"Listen to Rick on this one. Everyone will be fine as long as we can get some supplies somewhere" The old man spoke

"But what if we can't?" She fired back. "If you haven't noticed, the world has gone to hell here and were not the only ones trying to survive. We night never come across those kinds of things, let alone enough food, water, medical supplies"

"We'll just keep moving. Never stay long in one place, always looking for opportunities for supplies. We knew this day would come that we would have to move on and start living like this again. We didn't think it would be so soon but it is what it is and we have to deal with it

Lori hung her head in defeat. He was right; there wasn't a way to avoid this.

"And we may not eat like kings but we'll always have food. We know Daryl here to be a good hunter" he said gesturing towards his second in command. He nodded with a gruff.

"Now did anyone manage to get some supplies out?" He asked looking amongst the survivors.

"We managed to pull a bag of some linen, a few blankets, some medicine, some food and few kitchen essentials" Beth spoke meekly.

"Glenn and I don't have much, we have what was in the car and some stuff that I carried from the house" Maggie spoke.

They certainly didn't have much going for them.

"What about weapons? Ammo?" The sheriff asked. Everyone displayed their weapons. Most of which were low on ammo or completely out.

"The gun bag?" He asked and everyone shook their heads. No one seemed to have it. Rick sighed.

"We'll deal without it. We'll have to find substitutes on road"

He looked around to the group of survivors. They were defeated, exhausted, scared and hungry and right now there was nothing much they could do.

"We better get a move on. Try and find some place to maybe settle down in before it gets dark" He spoke. The group nodded and started to break away.

As they were getting ready to depart from the highway which they spent so much time on Carol found herself standing behind the blue car where there were cans and bottles piled on the back end of it. She whimpered to herself, trying to stifle back any more tears that were making their way down her cheeks. She swept the items they had left for her baby girl into a sack that had other food items in it and when she was done set it on the ground.

She just stared for a moment. The white writing of their message to help her find her way home was faded with the rain. Only a few words could be made out. The one that caught her attention was the name of her daughter. Only weeks, or was it days ago her little girl was trapped under that car right beside her and lost to her. She never blamed it on Rick; he was trying his best to save her.

And Daryl. He had done everything he could to try and find her little girl. He was in the woods constantly, trying to track her down. He had found her doll, the best piece of evidence in finding her and he did it out of what? Compassion? Maybe. It would be hard to believe that the Dixon boy had any compassion in him. He seemed too rough for that. But then why was he so compelled to try and find her daughter.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and fought the urge not to scream. She expected a walker but found herself face to face but none other the Daryl. His mouth was pulled back in a frown and his eyes were focused on the words in front of him.

"It'll be okay" He spoke finally and then paused, choosing his words. "I'm sorry bout your little girl" He tried not to notice the tears coming down her cheeks. Crying always seemed to bother him and he sure as hell wasn't used to it. No one in his family ever cried cept his mother and look how that turned out.

"It's okay" She answered him with a forced smile. "She's in a better place" Looking up towards the sky.

He looked up himself, wondering why anyone would believe in a god now, but to each their own.

"Time ta go" He mumbled. She nodded wiping he eyes and nose with the sleeve of her shirt. She looked at the car one last time before turned around and following him towards the rest of the group.

"Coming with us Carol?" Lori asked settling herself in the front seat of the red truck which Rick was driving. In the back was Hershel, Beth and Carl.

"No, I was gonna go with Daryl" she spoke, finding his face. His face was indifferent but he nodded with a short grunt and sat down on his bike starting the engine. Lori gave a quick smile and turned around to talk to Carl.

Carol looked around and saw that T-Dog had taken the liberty of driving the Hyundai with Glenn in the driver side and Maggie in the back. The suv had become the carrier of all the supplies.

"Hold on woman" he spoke. She pressed her knees together, wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her forehead to his back. The red truck pulled away from the wreckage first followed by the suv and Daryl bringing up the rear of the group. His eyes were trained on not just the road in front of him but to both of his sides, looking for walkers as they sped down the highway. There were a few stragglers here and there but they never came close to the group as they sped away.

Of all the shit in the world and all of the things that he dealt with, past or present nothing seemed comparable to the mess they were in. Day to day survival was the new way of life and for a lot of people this wasn't normal. He'd spent months alone, wandering the forest when he was a kid but there were never dead people rising and tryin to eat him.

In the midst of this apocalypse the thought had occurred to him that he and his brother were still completely alone and when his brother hadn't been found in the city that day, well that just left one Dixon boy to defend for himself. And although he'd much rather keep to himself, these people, these group of strangers, though still weary of him, were accepting of him and now looked upon him as someone important. In a way, these people were family. The thought might not have been there before, but he was starting to accept it especially after that little girl.

His blood began to boil when he thought of that son of a bitch who wanted to call off the search for Sophia. Who gives up their hopes on a child? He certainly wasn't no family man, or really that compassionate but she deserved a chance. This brought another unknown feeling to him. The way that he had taken on trying to find Sophia, how he tried to instill hope into her scared mother. Why did that come so naturally to him? He'd always been an emotionless hick from the hills. No love from his family and certainly none in return. But he wanted to protect that little girl and bring her back to her mother knowing that she was suffering, maybe more than any of them other people.

He felt her shift against his back and her conjoined hands that were around his waist settled lower down across his thighs. Something stirred in him but he shook it off, concentrating on the road and the area around him rather than his dumb ass thoughts.

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Hours of riding later he noticed the brake lights ahead of him and slowly came to a stop pulling up alongside Rick.

"According to the map and to Hershel there's supposed to be some kind of small little town right up the road from here. Daryl nodded and looked around him, the place seemed quiet for the moment, and he couldn't make out any walkers.

"What're we doin?" He asked

"We'll ride up a bit further and then get out and scavenged the town on foot. See if there's anything there. We'll talk about where were staying for tonight when we get done"

He nodded as the car pulled forward. Carol waved to little Carl inside the truck before they were already up the road, the suv following them.

"Do you think they'll be anything up there?" She asked him

"Don't know. Guess wul find out" he spoke pushing the bike forward and speeding up to catch the others. The forest around her blurred by and she found that if she looked out that she got dizzy. She sighed heavily and pressed her cheek against his back and closed her eyes.

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She wasn't asleep, there was no way to fall asleep on while riding on the humming vehicle below her, but she did day dream and at first everything was perfect. She remembered the sun and her house and her life before this with Sophia before the world had gone to complete and utter hell. But her daydream was not perfect because in it was Ed. The man that she thought she was in love. He said he was there to protect her, but all he did was knock around, hit her and tell her what to do. He didn't even like their daughter. It was always the same with him do as your told or get punished. She remembered all the slaps across her face he had given her and then she forced herself to open her eyes.

He was never going to be there again, but no matter where she went or how long she lived he'd always be with her. She noticed that the bike was slowing down and tried to peak around the narrow back on the man in front of her. She released her grip from around his waist and tightened her knees against the seat. She couldn't see much around him but she was able to see the brake lights ahead of her.

"Here" He spoke and then cut the engine to the bike, not wanting to draw any more attention to the area.

She released her grip and hopped off the bike. Her legs were wobbly under her from the hours of holding onto the bike. She stood there for a moment stretching her muscles and trying to regain her footing. She watched as Daryl grabbed his crossbow from the bike and turned to face her. He stared at her for a minute his eyes locking with hers before shuffling around to the side of the bike and grabbing a bottle from the side pouch. He held it out to her which she accepted and took a sip. Knowing that water was precious right now and they had to ration everything.

She placed it back in the pouch where he got it from and then met his gaze again. She found herself never wanting to look away from his steel blue eyes. After a moment he involuntarily sniffed and gestured for her to follow him. He had already turned his back when she found herself nodding. How silly she must look, acting stunned. She quickly regained her composed and followed him to where the group had convened.

"It was once a little trade post before the world came to this" Hershel was saying when she met up with the group.

"If anyone hasn't picked it clean. There should be most of the basics here. Food, water, medicine, maybe even some leisurely items" He spoke

"Not like they're really necessary now tho" Lori spoke gravely.

"The old man shrugged. We gotta keep some sort of enlightenment

"Yeah and all the books were in the RV" Glenn said solemnly. Everyone quiet for a moment remembering Dale.

"Well lets all be quiet about this. Daryl, Glenn and T-Dog you stay with me, we'll go up there. The rest of you stay in the vehicles here"

"Dad I wanna go" Carl spoke

"Absolutely not. You stay with your mother. She needs you here' He spoke firmly. He gave up instant and fell into an embrace with his mother. He nodded and motioned for the men to follow him.

Carol watched as the men set off for the town. Daryl loaded an arrow into his crossbow and held it out in front of him constantly checking his surroundings. Soon they were far enough up the road without incident that the group that was left behind turned and looked towards each other.

"Well let's see if we can look through and organize what we have in the way of supplies" Lori motioned, trying to keep their minds on something. They nodded and hurried to the Suv and the back of the truck.

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Daryl took point as they traveled towards the town and gave everyone the universal signal to stop. Everything was silent around them. His hunter instincts heard nothing move, well, almost nothing. He turned quickly and let an arrow fly. It nailed dead center against a tree and a squirrel that was racing up it. He lowered his bow with a smirk and went to fetch his kill.

"Dude really?" Glenn asked. Watching him pull the arrow out and placing the kill on the rope around his waist. "We thought it was a walker"

"Aint no walkers here" he mumbled before reloading his bow and advancing on. The young boy rolled his eyes but followed him. As they came over a slight hill they saw the old worn out wood building that Hershel had told them about. Painted on the side were the words trade post, but it looked completely abandoned like the rest of the world.

"No tellin if anythin is still there" Daryl spoke to the rest of the group

"We have to try" Rick reasoned. That was good enough for the rest of the party. They traveled in a tight diamond like formation. Daryl in the front, Rick and Glenn on the sides and T-Dog at the back. They watched and moved constantly to survey their surroundings from every angle. The building had an old style saloon sort of entrance with the swinging doors, which were surprisingly intact. Daryl raised his hand for them to stop again and they all stood like stone in place. With his crossbow in front of him. He pushed his way through the swinging doors and into the building looking quickly to the right and left of him.

"Clear" He spoke and the other men quickly followed him inside the building. It looked like an old time store. Boxes which were once filled to the brim with produce from the local farms were either empty or filled with rotten fruit. There weren't many shelves in the place and the counter up from was mostly bare. In the back however they noticed a small sort of bar.

"Lucky day gentlemen" Daryl spoke immediately heading for the bar. The others shook their heads and fanned out to search the shelves. The place wasn't totally ransacked but there defiantly wasn't much left to offer. They quickly filled a bag they'd brought with some canned goods a few bags of stale sliced bread and some medical supplies in the way of bandages, bottles of hydrogen peroxide and there was even one bottle of heavy strength aspirin. Daryl had contributed a half bottle of whiskey and a whole bottle of some kind of wine to the bunch with a smirk.

In the back on some pegs on the wall there were a few hats and a few items of clothing and below that were, oh yes, quilts made by the women of the town to be traded as well as a few animal furs. Glenn gladly gathered these items up and smiled as he held them at his side

"Not many of them but we can share" he spoke and the group nodded. At the front where the single cash register was there was a counter on which there was a few stands which were holding up a few paperback books, as well as a container of candy. Rick stuck his hand in the bucket and grabbed a handful of assorted sweets and placed them in the back.

"For Carl" He spoke.

"Hey I like chocolate too" Glenn complained. The others rolled their eyes. They shoveled in a few of the books that were there. They grabbed a few more things on the shelves such as chap Stick, two decks of cards and some gum.

"Looks like that's about the last of it" Rick spoke. He hefted with the bag over his shoulder as the guys made their way back towards the exit.

"Wait" T-Dog spoke stopping the group. He picked up a magazine that was lying on the floor. On the front was a women barely dressed barely in camouflage clothing and a gun in her lap. It read 'Chicks n' Guns' "For you man" He said with a grin handing it to a stone faced Daryl. He glared up at the grinning black man, at first wanting to strike him but he swallowed his anger and a little embarrassment and he took it quickly folding it and shoving it in his back pocket. Damn, people thought everyone like him was the same, loving chicks, guns, the great outdoors, no personal hygiene and booze. He raised his crossbow and exited first looking around him before motioning the guys to follow him. They were heading down the road at a steady pace before they heard the first moan. Everyone drew their weapons quickly and looked around them. To their right there was a break in the trees where they quickly spotted a group of walkers heading towards them.

The group stumbled quickly towards them, already noticing that they had a meal in front of them. Rick set the bag down by his side and pull out his knife. He really didn't want to have to use a gun when they were so far away from where they left everyone else. Daryl waited until they got closer to fire his first arrow. He only had so many with him and didn't want to run further into the group to get back any that he lost. Not that he would miss his targets of course.

"There aren't that many. We can take em out easily and then run back as fast as we can to the cars" Rick spoke

"We'll have to be quiet, running will draw their attention to us" Glenn spoke holding on with white knuckles to the pipe he was carrying.

As the first three walkers neared the men, Daryl launched his first arrow, bedding itself within the eye socket of a poorly dressed male walker. The others walked over the trampled body and as they came closer the boys broke from their formation to reek hell upon the living dead. T-Dog swiftly drove the large knife he wielded through the top of the head while beside him Glenn forced his pipe through the eye. Another arrow whistled through the air landing straight in the middle of the forehead of another.

The bodies of the walkers fell with thuds as they hit the ground, finally dead for good. The fighting stopped and then men breathed heavily waiting for something else to happen. They sighed in relief for a second before hearing T-dog shouting. A walker was trying to grab onto his arm. He wrestled with the dead thing trying to fight for a good angle to stab at its head. When he couldn't find one he swiftly brought the knife under its jaw and jammed the knife upward. It gurgled and fell to the ground when he pulled it out.

"Nice' Glenn spoke to the man who with wide eyes nodded.

"Les get movin" Daryl spoke before grabbing his two arrows and leading the party back down the road.

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It was just starting to get dark when Carl, who was keeping look out with his binoculars started to wave his hands around.

"They're back' he announced. He got down from the hood of the car, nearly stumbling over the body of a walker that had come to their camp. But they had taken care of the two walkers easily. The Hershel stepped opened the door and stepped out, his gun in hand and walked to meet the men.

He noticed immediately the large bag that Rick had slung over his shoulder and immediately his girls went to relieve him of it.

"This sure is heavy' Maggie said with a smile across her face.

"We brought back a lot of stuff. Food, medicine, water…" Glenn started

"Booze" T-Dog spoke with a grin looking at Daryl, who added it to the pile.

"And Glenn found some blankets, quilts and animal skins" Rick added. The girls squealed excitedly but were hushed

"It aint a lot" he continued. "But its certainly something"

"Any walkers while you were out there?" Lori asked concerned. "We had a few here ourselves"

"Had a few. But we took care of em" Daryl spoke.

"What should we do about tonight" Carol asked

"I think out best option is to get away from the place and find someplace up the road a little ways where we can park everything and spend the night" rick spoke

"I think we should stay here" Carol spoke

"Carol we can't stay here, we already killed some walkers today, and they might have been attracted to sounds"

"I think that more noise will attract them and the bike is certainly a lot louder than a few women squealing"

Rick looked back to Daryl he trusted with for his opinion on the matter

"I think she's right" He spoke. "This thing aint no car. Its loud as hell and with walkers twice as active durin the night their sure to come runnin"

Rick nodded. "Alright we stay the night. We'll set up watches from tops of the cars, two at a time while everyone else sleeps. We'll get moving as soon as the sun comes up"

Everyone agreed which quickly faded into silence.

"No hot food tonight then?" Carl asked breaking it a few moments later. Rick shook his head.

"Not tonight. It'll have to be quick and cold tonight. We have some canned goods here and a couple of loaves of bread, they're stale but they'll have to do. Don't have much of a choice. We'll eat here quickly then move on" He announced before turning around and walking towards where they came from looking around for any sign of trouble.

The girls started unloading the bag and organizing it with the rest of the things that they had. They chose a few cans. Two of peaches and one of corn and grabbed two slices of stale bread for everyone. They passed a few bowls around, everyone sharing. The grimes had their own as well as Hershel and Beth. Glenn and Maggie shared another with T-Dog. Carol shared her bowl with Daryl who told her to eat what she wanted and he'd eat the rest. She looked at him sitting on the ground with a knife in his hand expertly skinning the squirrel he had shot while the men were away. He quickly gutted it and set the skin on the pouch of his bike.

Carol stood up and rummaged through the bag where they had put all of the food and came out with a large paper sack and another paper bag.

"Here" She offered to the Dixon boy who was still quiet and still without food.

"Was this" He asked

"Salt. The meat will go bad if you just leave it."

For the first time since the events on the farm and since all the fighting that had gone on he produced the smallest of smiles. It caught her off guard for a moment before he took the bags away from her.

"Good thinkin woman. I knew you were smart" She went to say something in return but he was so focused on what he was doing that she quickly forgot it and other then handing him what was left of the bowl, she didn't speak to him for the rest of dinner

When everyone was done eating, they collected the bowls, empty cans, the bag of salt and now the bag with salted squirrel and stuck it into the back of the suv.

"Alright everyone let's get packed up and cozy. Who's first watch with me?" Rick asked, like he really needed to.

"I will" Daryl answered hopping up on top of the suv quickly and loaded his crossbow. Rick nodded and did the same on the top of the truck. Below them the rest of the group shuffled around trying to get comfortable. Daryl watched as Lori, Carl, Hershel and Beth climbed into the red and white truck while Maggie, Glenn, T-Dog and Carol got into the one he was currently positioned on.

The hours of the night drained on. There was a peacefulness that seemed completely impossible considering the world had gone to shit. There wasn't anything left up in these hills and forests that was worth anything anymore. All that mattered was getting all of these people to safety somewhere else until maybe this thing ended. But maybe it never would. If there was never a cure the world would be like this for a long time and eventually it would probably end. People were always dying and there certainly wasn't much new life.

He heard some of the guys talking about once they got to a safe place and once the world ended its sick fuckin joke that they could start repopulating. He sneered at the thought. There certainly seemed to be a lot of romance goin on between these people. How was any sort of love going to help in their situation anyways. Which got him to thinking about whatever it was that he was starting to feel. He'd always been tough as nails and let nobody get to him, but he'd be lyin if he said there wasn't something there. At the moment he shook it off, nothing seemed to be going on right now anyways. So his mind drifted away from those thoughts and he focused on sharpening the knife he carried at his hip.

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Hour later the car door below him opened on both side and T-Dog and Glenn emerged from the vehicle. Daryl looked over the side and watched as Glenn climbed the red suv and onto its top while rick nodded and jumped down. In moments T-dog was behind him

"Get some sleep" He spoke him and Daryl who although still restless followed his command and jumped down to the ground. Nothing had gone on during the watch. There was one point where he heard the rustling of leaves on the ground and the low moaning but it never came anywhere near their camp and so he never fired a single shot. He took the arrow he had ready to fire out of its place and placed it in one of the holder.

He slid into the car which was hot from all the breathing The two girls were in the back. Glenn must have had the window seat because Maggie was leaning against it now. Carol was sitting with her back against the seat with slow even breaths. He sat down next to her and closed the car door as quietly as he could. The sound ruffled Maggie but she never woke up. He swore under his breath as he watched Carol's eyes open and look directly into his.

She heard a noise that cause her to stir from her sleep. She opened her eyes sleepily to meet the intense steel gaze of Daryl. Of course he was the first thing she saw when she woke up. It didn't bother of course, she loved to look into his eyes, she found out she couldn't look away from them.

"Sorry I woke you" He whispered.

"Its alright' she mumbled. She found it too hard to keep her eyes open anymore and so she looked at him one last time, at that rough looking face she was coming to love and closed her eyes again.

As soon as she dropped his gaze and closed her eyes again nervously twitched and found himself releasing his held breath. What about those eyes stirred whatever feeling this was inside him? He didn't understand how the hell he was feeling and he cursed himself for feeling the one thing that he told himself he could not have. Fear. A Dixon boy couldn't be fearful because it left a man weaker. All those times when he was a kid and he whimpered and cried because his family was mean to him? He put those behind him to become to person he was today. Something that was being torn down and he wasn't sure why. But it raised the question. What exactly was he afraid of?

Before the question was answered he felt a pressure against his shoulder and found Carol had fallen over and was leaning against him in her sleep. He sighed heavily and found himself with a small smirk on his face. Something about this woman was changing something in him. He wasn't sure if he liked it and he sure as hell wasn't ready to deal with it, but it was there and the thought didn't seem to bother him. His smiled faded and he grabbed his crossbow from the flow and pulled it tightly against him while his other hand wandered and found itself on top the thigh of the women next to him. He closed his eyes and succumbed to much needed sleep.daryl spoke before grabbing his two arrows and leading the party back down the and fell to the ground when he pulle and , o


	2. Chapter 2

I noticed a few things about the first chapter that I'm not particularly happy about, some of the grammar and sentences and how my dividers between parts of the story disappeared when I uploaded it. Microsoft was really fucking with me the night I wrote it and so I apologize. I'm going to fix them up as soon as I can. Also the story will be a million chapters long if I do it on a day to day basis and so there will probably be a relative number of time skips within the plot. I'm hoping that these don't make anyone angry.

With that I'll continue on with the rest of the story.

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At first, there was nothing but the sound of the howling wind around them. They had been traveling for a few days now, stopping once and a while to stretch their legs, figure out where they were going and to talk and eat for a while. No one had any real idea of what the date was anymore, it didn't seem as important as when they sun was going down and when was it rising.

At the current moment, the sun was high in the sky; casting dark shadows over an already dark world and making everyone wish they still had air conditioning. This included everyone except Daryl of course who had the wind blowing in his face as they made their way down another deserted highway. Under normal circumstances they tried their best to stay off the main roads, knowing they had the greatest chances to be harboring large groups of the walking dead, but today they were here for a reason.

Two of their three vehicles have been deemed gas guzzlers and therefore needed more fuel then Daryl's bike. After days of almost nonstop traveling, the two large vehicles, much to the party's dismay, needed filling up soon. They all knew that the best was to get this done was to find the main highway again and take gas from the abandoned cars. It was with great caution that the group came to find themselves on the highway. It certainly wasn't as crowded as the one they spent so long on weeks ago but the amount of cars still left game them hope.

It was the decision of Rick to keep the group moving until they absolutely had to stop and take what they needed, that way they got the furthest they possible could from there last stopping point which they left in a hurry due to unnecessary gun fire. He knew if there were any walkers in that area they would be at the site in matter of time and so they got out of there as quickly as they could. Hershel had been sitting up from with Rick as they continued their long drive. He held the map and directed him where to go and if he needed to get off on any of the exits.

"The State line shouldn't be much further Rick" The man announced after countless hours of silence within the car.

"We should stop there then" He spoke looking down at the gas gauge of the truck. "We've been running red for a while now and the others aren't much better"

They continued on down the road until Rick could make out the first green corner of the big green sign. He stepped on the brake pedal twice to let the others know they were stopping and slowly came down to a crawl.

In front of them Daryl watched as the SUVs' brake lights flashed twice before starting to slow down. He weaved his way in and out of the wreckage and slowed the bike to a stop so that he was closer to the group instead of spread out in a long line. He stepped down from the bike and immediately grabbed his crossbow and started looking around the area.

He found himself at Rick's side within a few strides and watched as everyone else made their way out of the cars and looking around as well.

"Alright everyone, you know your jobs. Let's get filled up as fast as we can so we can move on" The sheriff spoke before heading in the opposite direction. To the right of them past the guardrail was a large sloped hill with a few trees planted on it and a visible roadway on top of it. The grass on the hill was brown and dead looking in the summer sun and the saplings and flowers had withered away with no one to care for them.

To their right there was the opposite. The guardrail blocked a hill that sloped downward into the forest that they had been trekking for weeks. The trees were large and towered over everything. It was shady, and the grass was deep green. The road was littered with trash, items left behind and the bodies of the dead. It was as sickening as every other place.

"We've made it pretty far" Glenn spoke breaking the silence of the group.

"Yeah look, there's the sign for the state line" Maggie spoke pointing to the bright green sign.

"Welcome to Alabama. The beautiful" Lori read

"What a sick joke that is" Glenn said with a scoff. "Beautiful" He repeated with a grave tone looking away from the sign.

"Well not everything's ugly" Carol spoke, trying to instill some kind of happiness to the depressed group. "There are still some things out there that are beautiful, in spite of all this" Her thoughts immediately wandered to the flowers that Daryl had so kindly shown her. The ones he believe that would bloom for her daughter. She turned to find him and found that he was walking around a large radius patrolling the area while the others were at working stealing gas from the cars and looking around for supplies.

It was an understatement in the least to say that Daryl Dixon had any real interest in the plant life that grew around here. They only things about the flora that he cared about were what he could eat and what would kill him. That and could he make a weapon from it. Despite that fact, he'd given her a flower, the Cherokee rose, to try and instill some peace for her about Sophia being missing. When the realization that Sophia was really gone struck her, she had gone and found a whole bush of the damn things and ripped them to shreds.

In that grief stricken moment she had resented the man for trying to give her hope. How? She thought could she think that they were anything more than just flowers when she found her daughter limping out of the barn as one of them? She felt as though she had been lead on by the hope of finding her and these goddamn flowers and the thought of them and Daryl made her bitter and angry.

After coming to closure about Sophia however, she had realized that the way she acted after Sophia's death was wrong. She knew she needed to mourn the loss of her only child and the only thing that those flowers, and by extension Daryl really did was help her through a tough time. She found herself living with regret thinking of how she ripped them apart. He'd already made a big impact on the way she was living life now and he didn't know it. She found herself becoming more connected to him with every day.

Things had grown tense between them after they found Sophia. He became more distant then usual and pulled away from the group and from her. After all the things that he had done for her she watched as he returned to his former state, living away from everyone else and the only time he was around was to listen in on the group meetings. That time on the farm when she had went to talk to him and all he did was scream in her face, that had been the hardest for her. She recalled the anger and words he threw at her screaming that Sophia wasn't even his. Why he said all those things after he spent all that time trying to instill some kind of peace? She tried to answer the question but afterwards she left him brooding on the hill thinking that maybe he was so angry because he was just as hurt as she was.

She found herself moving away from the car she'd been riding in for so long and with a metal pipe at her side she wandered from car to car searching for anything of use. What the group really needed was medicine and she hoped to find vitamins and other prenatal supplies for their expecting mother. Ever since their life on the farm and with the loss of Sophia, Carol found herself in the company of Lori much more then she used to be. In the gloom of the days they were spending, a little time spent talking like teenage girls who just got some was something that she had come love about being around her. Many of her searches were futile in that they were picked clean by other ongoing travelers looking for what they needed to keep goin.

As she came across one particular car she found herself gagging before she reached it. No walkers thank goodness but inside were something that she thought was even worse. A family. They had been decaying inside the sealed car for so long that when she opened the door she turned around quickly and vomited on the side of the road. Her empty stomach only brought bile up and it burned her throat and taste bitter in her mouth. She spat the last bits of it out and wiped her mouth on her sleeve. She looked around and saw that no one had seemed to notice.

She swallowed heavily, wishing she had brought some water with her to get rid of the awful taste in her mouth and cool herself down. The world outside had been cruel to everyone and it was times like these that she really hated to watch the havoc it had reeked. A family of four had been trying to escape, mom, dad, little brother and little baby. She tried to stop herself from crying but she found that she couldn't. The child never even had a chance, the world was too cruel. Was this how Lori was feeling? Bringing in her new baby into this world? Was she right when she told Carol that she made the correct decision by puking up the pills? She was starting to think that what Lori did was wrong.

And the grief of seeing such a little one brought back painful memories of her daughter who was so full of life not that long ago. She and Carl were playing amongst themselves and found happiness in that childish innocent way. And now she was dead. She breathed in deeply, focusing on finding supplies instead of burdening herself with more plaguing thoughts. A thought came to her head. She was heartbroken to think of the family as anything more than a resource but it had to be done in order for them to keep surviving.

She carried back an armful of supplies to the back of the suv where everyone was bringing in their haul. She grinned from ear to ear when she set down the baby blue bag on ground in front of Lori.

"Carol….that isn't what I think it is" Lori gasped

"It is" She said with the huge smile

Lori knelt to the group and nearly ripped open the bag. Inside were a few diapers, child medicine, wipes, powder, a few infant outfits and even a few bottles for mom.

"This is….fantastic! Where did you find this?" She asked

"It was on the floor of the back seat of a car….it was a family trying to get away" She paused again "The whole family" She spoke sorrowfully.

Lori and the rest of the women around her frowned. Anyone with a maternal instinct and any sense of compassion for a human life was crushed by the death of an infant who couldn't have been more than a few months old.

"Well let's thank them for helping us out then" Lori spoke finally before buttoning the bag together and placing it with the other things inside the trunk. The four women went back to sorting through the items that people had collected while not far from them, the men continued to scavenge themselves and get fuel for the cars.

With only one gas can and one hose to get the fuel from the car, the process was taking much more time then everyone had hoped. The suns merciless rays beat down upon everyone backs and with not much available water they struggled to keep themselves cool. Even those who took shelter in the shade of the cars found themselves drenched in sweat.

It was Daryl's third circle around the perimeter he had created and when he got back to his starting point he found that the boys were really not farther than where they had started. He cursed to himself. The longer they sat here the more likely they were to run into trouble or have trouble run into them. But they had two cars with large fuel tanks and they had to be filled all the way in order for them to keep moving at the pace they were. At least there was full light out and plenty of vantage points to keep an eye on things.

His bike wasn't much of problem considering it used much less fuel then the others but even it had to be filled up. At the rate they were going they were going to be here until nightfall and that was something that he just didn't want to happen. He found himself watching the group of women huddled around the car. The men in front of him were working their asses off to get the work done and he found after a brief amount of chatter the women became completely silent, hanging their heads and looking to each other with such sorrow in their eyes.

He couldn't take none of their depressiveness and found himself walking towards the group of men gathered around one of the cars. They were silent too, but at least they didn't have the same air to them as the women. He found himself at Rick's side who acknowledged him with a nod.

"Anything unusual" The sheriff asked. He just shook his head.

The sweltering sun was causing everyone to suffer. Glenn and T-Dog took turns taking fuel from the donor car and walking it over to one of their vehicles and filling it up.

"Truck's finally full" Glenn announced

"It's a good start but we gotta try and move faster" Rick spoke watching as the two of them started the process again. There was a lot of waiting around involving this process and it was something that Daryl couldn't stand. The watching and the waiting and standing around in the hot sun. It was all irritable and he wanted to get back on his bike and get out of here or go do something else.

"Sweet Home Alabama" T-Dog sung out with a fake added southern accent looking at the sign in front of them. "Nuthin so sweet about it anymore is there" He remarked.

"I dunno Dog, Daryl might feel at home here" Glenn said with a huge grin across his obviously joking with his friend.

"You think your fuckin funny don't ya" Daryl snarled. The group in front of him immediately tensed up.

"Dude calm down. I was just joking" he spoke, regretting his words immediately.

Whether it was from the heat of the sun or from the overall irritation he was feeling, he found himself in a losing battle to keep calm. What right did they have to put in him leagues with everyone else that belong to this state. He wasn't even from here. To the rest of the world, if a guy was from the south and lived in the woods he was a redneck.

"It aint funny. I'm sick of you people putting me with the rest of these hicks. I might notta come from much but I aint like everyone else in this fuck of a state" He growled. He glared at the group with fire in his gaze receiving only blank stares from the accused party. When none of them said anything in rebuttal he scoffed angrily turning on his heels and stalking off towards the woods in which they came from muttering something that sounded like 'huntin' when he walked by Rick.

As he left the area in an angry storm the rest of them turned their gazes to him.

"But he makes fun of me all the time" Glenn said trying to defend himself. "I didn't know he'd go off the haywire"

"Shouldn't we go after him?" Carl asked his father

"No. Were all a little stressed right now. He'll cool down eventually. He won't go far and he'll be okay on his own for a little bit"

"But dad" He protested "You said everyone has to stick together"

Rick dropped to his knees to meet the eyes of his child who was thinking more like the adults of the group every day. The kid's childhood had been destroyed and he was now prematurely forced to think like an adult to survive in this world. He sighed and tried to find the right words to explain to his son.

"Carl….sometimes a man just needs some time to himself, even during times like these" he paused and placed a hand on his shoulders "It'll be okay" He reassured the boy who stared at him for a moment, considering the thought and the nodded, turning around and heading for his mother and the rest of the girls.

"He's growin up fast" Hershel spoke once the boy was out of ear shot.

"He has to" Rick answered gravely

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Daryl stormed to the side of the road and hopped the guardrail with ease, taking the slope in brisk heavy strides as he made his way back into the forest. Anger and bitterness swirled through him and he fought the urge to go back up there and beat the shit out of Glenn. Little punk didn't know what the hell he was talking about. Is that what they thought of him? Some redneck sitting on the porch with a rifle in his lap, a beer in one hand and some dumb as shit blonde wife. Fuck em all. They didn't know shit about him and where he came from. Not that he wanted to know anything about him anyways.

It was a miracle that he even stated to talking to these people after what they did to his brother. Chained em to a fuckin roof in the middle of a geek infested city like he was some kinda animal. And although he wasn't always fond of his brother, they were still blood. He would be better off on his own, living the rest of his life in the woods and living off the land just like he'd always done. Somehow his plan failed and he had become integrated with them. It wasn't a bad thing really, they were all trying to survive just the same as him and now they had even come to rely on him, which is something he'd never experienced before. Some of them even trusted him. And although he never let his guard down for nobody he found that people had come to accept his tougher then nails, don't take shit from no one attitude.

He found himself alone at the edge of the forest and even though he was still madder than hell at everyone up there he found himself falling into what he knew as himself. He moved through the woods with ease and the thought of finally being alone and in his element made the red behind his eyes start to fade. The woods, although mostly dead still showed a few signs of life. The grass below him was still wet with the morning dew covered by the trees which were tall and still had lush green tops.

He knocked an arrow and stepped lightly over the leaf covered ground. This was one of his favorite times of the year. It provided him with the challenge of being a good hunter. During autumn, when the leaves on the ground were plentiful they were always ready to screw up your kill. That deer you were tracking for miles would bolt in a second when he heard your feet crunching those leaves.

Daryl knew that he was a good hunter. He didn't need the praise of people around him telling him that and he certainly didn't want to draw any attention to himself. His father never said anything nice about him and Merle? He'd beat the shit out of him sooner than anything close to a compliment made it passed his dirty lips. And when the major food source in the world was running up the sides of trees quicker then lightning, you had to be a good shot. With walkers wandering through the woods the only thing that was left to hunt were the fast critters they couldn't keep up with.

As he slowly stalked through the forest he constantly checked his surroundings looking for anything that could provide a meal or be a threat. He heard the quick rustling of leaves not far from him and dropped to a crouch. He became still as stone and slowed his breathing down to the point where it didn't sound like he was breathing at all. The most important rule in hunting, you couldn't be seen or heard that and blend in with your surroundings. In front of him not but a few feet away scurrying around on the forest floor was a single hare. It was a scrawny excuse for a meal but with the world the way it was, he couldn't expect much. He aimed slowly following the hare with his bow watching the small creature move along, trying to find food. Its sensitive ears never once stopped to pick up on the killer in its midst.

He let the arrow fly and grinned when he heard the sound of it collide with a dull thud as it hit a tree in its path behind it. It caused a flock of crows in the tree above to rise from their perch and cause a commotion. He trekked through the forest, pulling the arrow from the tree and out of the flesh of his kill. He strung it on the rope around his waist and knocked the bloody arrow back in place. It was going to take more than one kill to calm the storm in his head.

"Fuck em" He muttered under his breath as he moved deeper into the forest. He walked away from the rest of the group, the sorrow and the anger and the desperation that everyone emitted. No matter how hard he tried to pull away from everyone else and ignore what was going on, he found himself able to pick up on the basic emotions and intentions of the people around him. After trying to deal with so many emotional open people he found himself exhausted. Hunting was always a good way to get away from everything because it gave him the solitary time he needed as well as providing food for the rest of the group. They knew to stay away from him when he was angry and god help anyone who tried to invade on his time alone.

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Carl noticed that all of the grownups didn't seem to be in a very good mood today. He wasn't sure why though. Sure it was hot, but it was always hot and that hadn't changed with all the zombies around. And it couldn't be that there was a threat because no one was running around waving guns and his father wasn't giving out commands.

Everyone with his father seemed to very distressed, like if they turned around there was suddenly going to be a walker that just appeared out of thin air behind them. And they were fidgeting like they were nervous and doing things like biting their fingernails or tapping their fingers. All of the sudden the kinda scary guy with the crossbow started yelling everyone and started using language his parents always said was bad. Then they all got quiet and he stormed off away from them. Didn't he know any better not to go out alone?

He decided to try and tell his father but he only said that it was okay for him to go off because sometimes a man needed to be alone. That didn't make any sense to him. Just because he was his dads new best friend cause Shane was gone didn't mean he was allowed to go off by himself. But he didn't want to give his father a hard time, not when he already looked so angry so he nodded and wandered away to his mother who he thought would be in a better mood.

He soon realized that his mom and the other ladies, including Beth who's started traveling with them didn't seem to be in a much better mood then all the men. They all seemed really sad for some reason. He couldn't tell which was worse, the annoyed, angry and paranoid men or the upset women.

"Momma?" He asked softly standing by his mother's side. She was rooting through a new bag, it a light blue color and she at least seemed to have a smile on her face. She didn't answer him right away and he watched as she started pulling out things like diapers and a bottle. Baby stuff he concluded and his childish gaze rested on his mother's flat stomach. Soon he was going to have a baby brother and sister and he thought it was that best thing that was going to happen. He would have someone new to talk to and play with and maybe it would stop his mom and dad from fighting all the time.

"Momma?" He called again louder this time.

"Yes Carl?" she asked

"I can come over here and be with you guys right? Dad and the others are all angry and stuff" He spoke

Lori put the things she was holding back in the bag.

"Angry? Do you know what about?" She asked him

Carl shook his head. "I dunno what happened. I just know I was standing there and all of the sudden Daryl started yelling and wandered away from everyone else"

While going on with her chores, Carol's ears immediately picked up the sound of his name.

"Daryl went by himself" Carol asked, setting down her things and joining the conversation.

"Uh huh. Something happened and he looked real angry and he just left. I tried to tell dad he can't go off alone but dad said it was okay" he said telling his story.

Lori looked from her boy to Carol. She'd spoken to the woman before about him, he didn't come up much in their conversations but she had noticed that Carol talked about him more than anything else.

"Well maybe your father's right' Lori said trying to reasons with her son. "Daryl can be….complicated and maybe your dad saw that and didn't want anything bad to happen"

"I thought he wasn't dangerous. That's why he's dads new best friend right?"

Lori looked dumbstruck as the question fell from his hips and she found that she couldn't find the right answer to give him.

"Your Dad….we all trust him because he's proven that he isn't like his brother and given us reason to trust him" Lori explained.

Carol tried to listen to the conversation between the boy and his mother but the only thing that she could think about was that he was out there alone. Sure he said he was fine on his own but that didn't mean that bad things didn't happen to good people. As everyone grew interested in the conversation, she slipped away quickly grabbing the pipe that she'd been carrying around for a weapon and headed towards the side of the road which sloped down into the forest where they came.

She got to the edge of the forest and looked out trying to find any sort of movement that would lead her in the right direction. She had no idea how long ago he had left and with the way he moved, she'd probably never find him. This was the first time that she thought that now would be a damn good time to turn around and go back to the group where she knew it would be safe. But she ignored the little voice in her head and followed the one that seemed to be coming from somewhere else.

She trekked through the forest, not really knowing where she was going; only that she could keep moving farther out because that was where he would be. He was prone to anger; it was one of the only ways it seemed that he knew how to show any kind of feeling at all. If he was upset, you'd never know. If he was afraid, you sure as hell would never know it. The only thing that he every really showed was anger, and brutality. There had been a few time where she was lucky enough to see little tiny glimpses of the emotions she knew he had make their way to the surface, but they were always masked, and no one it seemed try to see past that. No one except for her.

As she made her way further into the forest, she noticed the complete drop in temperature around her, the trees blocking out most of the sun. It felt good after being on that highway in the heat for so long. It was quiet except for the crunching of leaves under her feet and she found that it brought back memories. Autumn was always Sophia's favorite season. When she asked why she would always answer, cause it's the prettiest and because she got a lot of candy. Now….Sophia would never see another autumn like this and there sure as hell wasn't going to be anymore candy.

"Where are you" she whispered to herself and found herself leaning against a tree and looking around for some sort of sign to lead her in the right direction. She thought she heard the faint crunch of leaves in the distance and started to follow where she heard it coming from. She gripped her weapon tightly as she followed the sound which all of the sudden completely stopped. It was quiet for all of two seconds before she instinctively dived out of the way of something flying towards her and landed on her side on the ground with an oomph.

She looked up to where she was just a second or two ago and found an arrow protruding from the trunk of the tree pinning a small squirrel down it.

"What the hell you doin' out here woman" She heard him growl. She couldn't help the small smile that graced her face.

"You know you aint supposed to be out here alone" he added pulling the arrow from the tree and stringing it along with a generous amount of other small critters around his waist.

"You tryin to get yurself killed?" He asked harshly

When she didn't reply he scoffed angrily and shouldered his crossbow. He un-expectantly held out his hand to her which she eagerly took. His hand was rough and calloused from years of life in the wilderness and hunting, but it was warm and she didn't want to let go. He pulled her off the ground easily not realizing how light she really was and found her momentum kept her going. She fell against him clumsily, her head landing at the junction of his neck and chest. She breathed in deeply, taking in his smell of leaves, musk and sweat. It smelled so much like him and she found that she didn't want to move away.

She then felt his hand on her shoulder and suddenly found herself being pushed away from him. She frowned and looked up to meet his intense gaze. She saw the anger first, Carl had said he wandered off angrily and it was always the easiest to find. Was it also fear that she found looking at him?

"What were you doing out here by yourself?" She asked

"Well I sure didn't come out here to take a stroll" He spoke angrily

"It's because your angry. Carl said something about it. What angered you enough to be out here?" She asked

"It aint your fuckin business" He spat. "All you people don't fuckin get that I don't wanna be around ya. I came out here ta be alone. Not babysit" He paused for a moment. He could see the red behind his eyes again and he didn't do anything to try and control himself this time. "Are you tryin to kill yourself?" He followed up "What if ya never found me? You'd be wanderin around here all goddamn day until a damn geek got ya. Just like yur little girl" He shouted at her.

He watched as she instantly stiffened and the look of hurt on her face was enough to break the will of anyone. This would be the second time that he'd done this and lashed out at her about her daughter's death. He watched again as she stood there, acting like she was stone but he could see her eyes get wet. Dammit he couldn't stand that. The red faded and stood there dumbfounded trying to think of way to make it better. Before he got the chance to do anything he heard the tell tale sign of an undead coming towards them. The smell of rotting flesh gave it away before he could hear all the noise it was making.

He turned around to face the oncoming walker and growled angrily when more than one showed up. Seemed it had quite a few friends. There was a group of five of five coming towards them in the middle of the clearing. He grabbed his crossbow and knocked an arrow no sooner than first got only a few feet away from him. It fell down with a thud, the others undeterred by their fallen comrade.

They were coming in too close, too quickly for him to load another arrow in time. Without thinking he grabbed the gun he had stored in his waistband and turned off the safety firing at the second zombie. He watched as Carol finally moved out of her frozen state and focused her attention to at third walker. She slammed the pipe into one on its side making it loose its balance and fall to the ground; she then proceeded to shove the pipe through the side of its head and out the other side. The pipe got lodged within the skull of the zombie and she pulled on it desperately to pull it out. She was making all these whining sounds and he knew that the tears he had seen coming were falling. She pulled at the pipe frantically trying to get her weapon back.

He aimed the gun again at the head of the zombie and fired, the pistol blowing a small hole in its head. Carol whimpered as blood spattered on the ground around her and on the sleeve of her shirt. The final walker stumbled towards them, still eager to get a meal. Carol gripped the pipe with white knuckles and struck it into the side of its head caving in the skull and sending blood and bits of skull and brain matter to spatter around her.

She was breathing heavily and dropped to her knees sobbing, her pipe falling out of her hand. He watched as her entire body shook with her crying and he found it made him uncomfortable and he had to look away from her. He also found that as much as he hated to admit it he felt guilt. Why was it that he always seemed to cause pain just as he thought something was going right? Just because he was an emotionless asshole didn't mean he always wanted to be one, he just didn't know how to change it. He sighed and stuck the gun back in its place and plucked the arrow from the skull of the walker. When her sobbing resolved to a few hiccups he stood by her side and offered her his hand.

She glanced up at his outstretched hand and a battle raged in her mind. Part of her screamed how dare he offer a hand to her like that after what he just did to her, this was the second time that he brought her daughter into a conversation against her. It was the second time he yelled and screamed while she was at a complete loss of words and stood there and just took it. But at the same time, maybe it was her fault he flew off the handle again, she did come down and disturb him when she knew he was angry, she just found herself unable to resist being far from him. She took his hand and he raised her off the ground as easily as before.

"I'm sorry" He mumbled as she went to grab the pipe from the ground. "I didn't mean to say anythin bout your girl"

She nodded. It wasn't all that much but she felt content with it and seeing how he was already walking away from her, she got the idea that he was done talking about it. She followed him back through the forest until they were once again in the hot sun by the roadside. Heavy footfalls came to meet them as he swung his legs over the guardrail and helped her over.

"I heard gunshots" Rick spoke

"That was me" Daryl spoke "Carol came ta find me and while we were out, we got attacked by five of em. They got too close for me to reload quick enuff so I pulled the gun on em"

Rick nodded. "You both alright"

"Fine" He answered in reply.

"Well then we better get moving. We finished getting the gas. We were waiting on you to get back but then Lori and the others noticed Carol was missing too" he turned to look at the disheveled women.

"Don't do that again" He spoke firmly. She merely nodded. "You of all people should know not to go wandering off by yourself"

Lori immediately flashed him a glare which he didn't seem to notice. She noticed the solemnest of her face and stance that even though Rick hadn't meant it, it had upset her. She noticed that when the two of them had come back from the forest that she already looked like she had cried or was about to. What were these people doing to the poor woman?

"There's no doubt that attracted attention" he continued. "It's time to get off the road and find some place soon" He commanded

"We'd better. I don't think I can spend another night sleeping in the cars like that" T-Dog replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

As the group split up, Daryl untied the rope of animals he caught and stuck them in the side pouch of his bike. Hopefully they be able to find a place where they could build a fire, they needed to be cooked tonight. He straddled the bike and was about to turn it on when Glenn walked over to him. He stood there, looking distressed for a moment before saying

"I'm sorry dude" He mumbled "I thought since you make fun of me all the time, it was alright and that you'd think it funny"

"I aint got a good sense of humor" Daryl replied. When the kids face fell he sighed. "But your alright" Glenn seemed to be happy with the answer and ran over to the SUV and climbed in. when the hell had he started to become this more understanding guy. He'd much rather have everyone fear him then come to him for support and goddamn if he ever let someone think him as a misunderstood emotional guy they needed to sympathize with and pity.

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After a few hours of traveling on the small dirt road in the forest, which they found to be the best route, everyone was on the lookout for some little place to make camp. If need be they would spend another night in the cars, but that was always a last resort. The night was quiet so far, they'd seen a few walkers along the way but despite the undeads attempt to keep up; cars were much faster than a zombie with a broken foot.

"Up ahead" Hershel pointed out. A little ways up the road behind a mess of overgrown trees and bushes was the edge of a wooden house. He could see the corner of a front porch with a mostly broken railing.

"Good find" Rick answered. "We'll clear it out first and then settle in" He stepped on the brakes twice before slowing the vehicle down.

The caravan halted to a stop mostly everyone stepped out into the night. The temperature had dropped quite a bit, though it was still warm and muggy. Daryl's headlight went out and they were surrounded in darkness for the moment. Someone flicked on a flashlight quickly. The house in front of them was a very small two story building, the windows were broken, and the railing pikes had been crashed through or ripped off. Part of the roof looked like it was starting to sag in and the small chimney a top it was broken off.

"Ain't much but it'll do" Rick spoke out loud. "Daryl, Glenn, T-Dog" He called and the three men came to meet his side. He only looked at them and started to lead the way into the house. It was ritual by now. You go somewhere new? Check it. When you get inside, kill everything that moves. When you're done with that, well then you check it again. One could never be too cautious.

The door was shut and Rick hoped that it meant there were no walkers inside. The door creaked as he swung it open slowly. He held his knife out in one hand while he held the flashlight with the other. Behind him was Glenn and T-Dog, while Daryl brought up the rear.

It was musty and smelled like dust inside but what was overwhelming was the smell of decay. He heard the sound of Daryl locking an arrow into place as all four of them stepped inside. He glanced around the first floor which contained a dusty couch, a broken TV, and the fireplace that connected to the chimney. To the left was the opening to another room which he found was the kitchen. No movement so far. He stepped towards the kitchen and signaled Glenn come with him and for Daryl and T to go another way. They nodded, taking orders and Daryl turned on t flashlight he'd brought along, resting it on the length of his crossbow.

Daryl and T stepped forward lightly and walked past the opening to the kitchen and towards the hallway that was in front of them. As they reached it he pointed to the closed door on their left side and T nodded. He waited and watched T grip the handle and turn it slowly. He held the bat he carried with him over his shoulder. He opened the door quickly and got ready to strike but found nothing in the small bathroom. He Okayed it and they moved on towards the stairs on the right that led upstairs. Daryl rounded the corner quickly glancing at the top of the stairs before giving an okay to move on.

Meanwhile Rick and Glenn had moved quickly through the kitchen, not bothering with look for supplies at the time. The house seemed like it was empty but he knew better then to judge. They moved into the living room attached and lowered their weapons. It was a trophy room of some kind with animal heads adorning the walls and a rack of guns near the window at the far end.

"Sweet" Glenn grinned. There was a good couple of rifle's and one or two shotguns. Boxes of ammo were on shelves next to the rack along with a few hats, some hunting knives and even a bow. They watched as Daryl and T carefully walked up the steps and crept along behind them. Daryl had already reached the top of the stairs by the time he heard Rick and Glenn set foot on them. T was closely guarding his back. There were a total of three rooms at the top of the stairs. Two on the left and on the right and that was when they started hearing noises.

Daryl approached the first door on the right while T checked the partially opened door on the left. It creaked opened to reveal another empty looking bathroom but he immediately smelled it before heard it start to moan. On the left of the bathroom was a small old style bathtub with a shower attached and he saw the decayed flesh of a naked female walker. She reached out at him through the see through shower curtain growling at him. As she tried to walk towards him her knees collided with the edge of the tub and she tripped falling over. He took the opportunity and brought the bat down on the back of her head cracking her skull. She groaned once more before coming still. He sighed in relief picking up the bat and resting the bloody end on the wooden floor.

As this was going on, Daryl pressed an ear to the first room listening for any sort of sound. He heard the crack of the bat behind him and the footsteps of the men coming up the stairs but nothing from the room. He pulled back and tried opening the door but found that it wouldn't open. He motioned for them to follow him as he moved to the last room. He again listened for some kind of sound but couldn't hear anything. The others behind him had their weapons at the ready when he opened the door. He heard someone behind him groan at the smell that was released.

He moved in the room quickly aiming at two figures on the bed. A smaller one was buried under a larger one which was wearing a cap on his…skull? Daryl groaned and lowered his weapon reaching behind him to T. He placed the bat in his open hand as the man walked to the side of the bed and tapped the bony shoulder of the one on top. When it didn't move he rested the bat against the bedside table.

"They aint walkers" He told them. "They've been dead for a while."

"What do you think happened?" Glenn asked.

Daryl examined the two bodies. The one pressed against the bed was female. A lot of their flesh was gone and bones show through the thin layers of leathery skin that was left. He picked up the blanket covering the two and his face crunched up in disgust before he put it back. He noticed that the larger figure had a small revolver grasped within his rotten fingers.

"Looks like their two were getting busy when this fella shot the misses" He concluded. "Then he musta shot hisself"

"Till death do us part?" Glenn asked

"Sumthin like that" He replied

"What about that door you passed on the way here. Did you check it?" Rick asked

"It's locked from the inside. I figure if theirs anythin in there it aint gonna get us anyhow so why break the door down?"

Rick nodded. "Let's get the bodies moved out of here. We can put em out front"

"Maybe the smell of death will deter any others from coming here" T-Dog spoke

"That's what I was hoping"

The men nodded. T turned away and went with Daryl to fetch the one walker that had been killed. Rick and Glenn stood beside the bed "Soo…" He grabbed the man by the shoulders and heaved upwards. He came away from the women easily.

"Gross…." He whined as Rick dropped him to the floor face up. "I did not want to see that" He spoke pointing to the dead man's naked groin.

When Rick went to pick the man up again Glenn stopped him.

"Can we just….turn him over first?" He asked. Rick rolled his eyes at the kid who acted like he'd never seen a naked man but flipped him over anyways and they hefted him up and took him outside. Daryl and T passed them as they walked out, on their way to get the second body. The walker that T killed was lying face up in front of the house.

"Dude…what is it with all the people in this house being naked?" He asked throwing the body of the man on top of her.

"Beats me" Rick finally said walking over to the rest of the group who were still locked tight in the cars. He motioned for everyone to come out. Wearily the group stepped out, trying to look around them in the inky darkness of the night.

"The house is secure. Everyone grab some stuff and let's get it all inside before something realizes that were here" He announced

There was a flurry of motion around him as everyone moved quickly to grab supplies from the back of the cars and setting in the house one by one. He was amazed by the number of bags and boxes that everyone brought in on their first trip inside the house and many of them made a second trip. Everyone crammed themselves in the open hallway and around the couch in the room. The last person to walk and close the door behind him, locking it was Daryl with the string of animals he had caught earlier and his crossbow.

"We'll rest here for tonight" Rick announced. "We'll have watches throughout the night on the front porch until everyone's had a decent sleep and then we'll move on"

"We'll get dinner started then" Carol added after Rick was silent. Rick nodded and walked away. Everyone around his broke away to and started to do their thing.

Daryl grabbed his stringer of small critters and made his way to the women who were looking around the kitchen.

"Think ya'll can cook these up?" He asked holding them out.

"Of course we can" Carol snapped at him. "We've done it before" She looked at them and their blank black eyes.

"Skin them first will you" She spoke angrily handing them back to him. He met her intense gaze and sneered before walking away heavily.

She watched him storm out along with the rest of them. They eyed her suspiciously but went back to their business. She heard as Rick and T had gone into one room and they took several guns, some ammo and even a bow. Without the animals to cook she set around the kitchen and started to root through the bag to find something to cook with the abundance of gamey meat they were about to eat.

She heard chatter and laughter around her and as she walked into the main room Glenn was standing in the center with one hand holding a guitar like the one back at the farm and the other was holding onto a banjo.

"Look what I found in the bedroom!" He announced "They're tuned and everything" He set rested the guitar against the table in the middle of the room. "I wonder if D…" HE started to say when Maggie gave him a stern look and hit him on the shoulder.

"What!" Glenn exclaimed. "He's not here this time"

Rick sighed heavily. "That's not the point. You already pushed him enough today" The room went silent. Rick glared at him and went back to reloading one of the shotguns they'd found. After the commotion was over Carol returned to the kitchen. The can opener was sitting on the counter and she picked it up and started to open a can of potatoes. The can was only halfway open when she sighed and set it down. She grabbed the nearest kitchen towel and wiped her hands on it and looked out the window of the kitchen.

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What the hell happened there? He brushed out of the house quickly and angry. Sitting on the front porch he pulled out his knife and started expertly skinning the animals one by one. Why did everyone have to be so damn frustrating? One minute they were happy, the next bawling their eyes out and they next they were shooting death glares at you. He never met anyone so complicated as this group and he found it to be especially annoying. It was one of the reasons why he wanted to be left alone back on the farm. These people didn't understand that no matter what they said or tried he could not be and would not be as emotional as all of them.

He was tired of everyone trying to be his friend and be nice to him. He sure as hell didn't need these people but they seemed to think that they really needed him, which was probably true. If Shane had somehow taken over then half of this group would be dead cause he didn't like em or they didn't agree with him and with Shane it was his way or you were dead. He still wanted to know what the hell happened to him. He didn't see him once that entire night and he may have been a complete Dick but he sure as hell would have fought with em.

Why was it that these people were trying to be closer to him. It couldn't be because they wanted something out of him because there wasn't anything tangible that he could give up. He didn't own anything worth money, not that money mattered anyways. It couldn't be that they were genuinely were trying to be friends with him could it? I mean who wanted to be friends with someone like him anyways, he wasn't nice to anybody and that's what friends was being about right? Sure he protected all these people but that didn't make him everyone's friend.

Then there was Carol in particular. No matter how many times he had been mean to her she always seemed to want to be around him. He'd said some pretty terrible things to her in the past month and yet everywhere he went she was never far behind. She'd come out blindly in the middle of the forest to come and find him because what? _She_ was worried about _him_? He hated to admit it, damn he really hated to admit it but it was he that worried about her.

That whole time that Sophia had been lost, no matter what the circumstance was he was out in the forest looking for her even when the situation had seemed hopeless. He never once stopped looking for her. When she was crying that night in the RV, although her crying made him uncomfortable as hell, he realized that he really wanted to get out there because it was all the woman had left in the world and it was killing her. So why? He questioned. Why did he want to bring her back and stitch her family back together again? Was it because he was tired of seeing her unhappy? She lost her little girl and her husband, well he was a no good bastard. He deserved to rot in hell for what he did to her.

Which is when he started to recognized that maybe the reason that he tried so hard to stitch together her family was because he had such a shitty family when he was a kid. Was it because he didn't want her to suffer like he did? Or was it something else? Was it the idea that because he didn't want to be there just to protect her but that he wanted her to feel good after all the years that she had suffered? And that after everything he had been through he wanted something or someone to be there for him? He thought about the time he was lying in the bed in Hershel's house because he'd just got back from being out in the woods. He wasn't sure what she was going to do when she got that close to him but then she had kissed his head. It was brief and instant but he'd felt…content, calm, and wanted…something he'd never felt before. Then she went ahead and told him "_You've done more for Sophia then her daddy did in his entire life_" He thought about all of it and scared him. He was absolutely terrified of the fact that he may have some kind of deep feeling towards another living person and that's someone else may see something in him.

The myriad of emotions he felt were buzzing through his head like hornets and they didn't seem to calm down even after he applied the smoke. He tried desperately to concentrate on skinning the animals in front of him but regardless of what he told his mind to do to, it didn't listen. He was so caught up with trying to escape the cloud of thoughts in his head that he found he didn't hear whoever was behind him.

The door creaked opened behind him and as the shock came over him his knife slipped and cut along his palm. He dropped the knife and sucked in a quick breath and held it with his other hand.

"Daryl are you….oh my god what happened?" Carol gasped.

"Aint nothing" He mumbled releasing his injured hand which now limply hung at his left side. "Here's your critters all skinned and ready for ya" He gestured.

She studied him for a moment before grabbing his right wrist. She pulled it to her level and noticed that it was only smeared blood. She dropped it and went to reach for the other which he moved out of her reach.

"Dammit Daryl don't be a baby" She growled

"I aint. I told you it was nothing. Don't worry bout it"

"Daryl give me your hand" She commanded.

He got up from the chair and turned to face her. He met her gaze with a glare and his upper lip curled in a snarl.

"I ain't some little kid ya gotta fix up. I don't need anybody helpin me got it? I can fix it myself" He shouted and shoved a paper sack with the skinned animals into her arms. "Go do whatever the hell you gotta go and leave me the fuck alone" He cursed

Once again she was faced with this man yelling and screaming at her and she found that this time there were no tears threatening her eyes. She stood there, listening to her words thinking the whole time, why is he always yelling? The first time it had been about Sophia and that he wasn't her father and didn't need to watch out for everyone. The second because she'd found him angry in the woods and tried to help. She found it odd that Daryl Dixon was angry because someone insulted him. The third was just now when she was just trying to patch up his hand for him. Despite pushing himself away from humanity, he was just as vulnerable to being hurt as everyone else.

She was getting tired of this old Carol who in the face of distress let herself get steamrolled and taken advantage of. She made that mistake plenty of times and she decided that enough was enough. She wasn't dumb and that was something she knew about herself now. Sure she had made mistakes in the past but they6 were behind her now. It that moment she decided to start being who she wanted to be, and this new Carol wouldn't take shit from anyone.

Without warning she grabbed his hand which was supposedly 'fine' and overturned it. In the center of his plan was an angry red wound that didn't seem too deep. Her eyes jumped to his to gauge his reaction and she what she found was not anger this time but a flash of fear. . She took her hand away from his which he immediately returned to his good hand

"Stay here" She whispered and walked into the house carrying the bag of animals. She was gone for a few minutes and he was afraid that she had gone to tell everyone that tough as nails Daryl was afraid. When she returned she was holding a bottle and a few white bandages. She motioned for him to sit, which he did slowly and she knelt in front of him taking his hand once again.

She was gentle with it, pouring a splash of something over it so that it bubbled and then wrapped the medicated bandages around it tightly. She held them together with a small safety pin.

"Daryl" She spoke and when he heard his name on her lips like that he felt something in him stir "I don't blame you for anything you've ever done" She spoke. "I meant what I said back on that farm that you've done more for Sophia then her daddy ever did, and you've done more for me then anyone has ever done…I know you don't want admit to yourself that somewhere in there under all those nails and anger your just as human as the rest of us" She whispered

He found himself at a loss of words and when she was done he found her smiling. He found that he couldn't meet her gaze, afraid that if she did, she would see everything that he was thinking. He felt her lips brush the back of his hand and tried to ignore the turning of his stomach. She stood up with a smile and he was left alone again with his thoughts.

Human. The word seemed oddly familiar but he wasn't sure why. He'd grown up learning that if you were kind or compassionate, sad or scared you were a pussy and that anger was the way to solve everything. Being emotional was a weakness that he had plenty of proof wasn't worth the effort. So why now after all these years was he wondering if he still fit the definition? Because the one person that managed to see past the real mask saw something in him that he was afraid of seeing himself.

"What the hell is goin on" He mumbled to himself.


	3. Chapter 3

I love this show so much and yet I hate them. Killing T and Lori in the same episode?! And poor Carol is missing! Here's to hoping that there will be an awesome Daryl moment or scene when and if they find her. Also im sure why but at the end of chapter one the sentence should end with much needed sleep and that's what my document says but for some reason the site has that extra crap instead. Not sure why.

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It had been a week since the group had found the abandoned house. The plan of leaving walker carcasses in the front and back of the house was still working and many of group was surprised when they hadn't seen more than a few walkers strolling by. They mostly kept themselves locked up in the house. While they were there they'd started to make more adjustments to the house and worked on it so that it was secure in every way but the construction was starting to take a toll. They were running out of useable materials to barricade everything with and with the use of all the wood outside there was very little that remained inside to burn in the fireplace.

"I think it's time we got a group together for a supply run" Rick announced to the group over dinner one night. "We've exhausted what we had for barricading the windows and such here" he explained

"Were pretty much out of firewood to burn to keep this place warm" Lori added. Although it hadn't seemed important, winter was getting closer and closer and the fireplace was more than just a luxury now it was something everyone looked forward too. Who didn't love cuddling around a warm fireplace at night? It was also favored by Carol and the others who cooked the meals.

"And feeding all of us with two meals of day is starting to wear down our food supply. Even with all the extras we found in the pantry" Carol spoke. Around the circle of survivors, heads nodded. These were not easy times, but no one really liked the idea of wandering blindly to go and find supplies.

"Well let's come up with a plan then" Rick spoke. He pulled out the map which he carried around in his back pocket and set it out on the nearest table. Everyone who usually had a hand in these things crowded around it and started pointing things out. The women stepped back and watched as the men went to work. They set about clearing away all the dirtied plates and utensils and cleaning up after the group.

Carol glanced over to the group after setting down the dishes in the sink which Beth had already claimed to do. She watched the silly hand gestures and listen to the swelling of voices of everyone but she found she could only focus her attention on him. Since the time on the front porch she had with him last week she had not spoken to him much. He hadn't given her any chance to. He was either busy hunting, doing manual labor around the house to help it be secure or just plain avoided her.

The first couple of days were the hardest. She'd go out of her way to try and talk to him the night before but he never stuck around or always found an excuse to get away from her. After the first few days, she began to wonder what it is that she did wrong. Clearly this was her fault. He had been just fine before that time and now all of a sudden he didn't want to have anything to do with her. She told herself that this is the way it was supposed to be. They were all focused on surviving and that meant him too. He didn't have time to keep this group alive and also care about poor Carol.

She found that as much as she sought for his companionship and wished that he was always around, she needed to be focused on the cause as well. So she watched from afar, the thought of him being close to her again never far away. He stood tall and silent with his arms crossed over his chest. His jacket, the ones with the unclean able angel wings clung to him like a second skin. He never went anywhere without it. Which reminded her that she needed to wash it the next time they did laundry. Which would give her the excuse to be near him, if even just for a moment. Her attention with the group faded when they were quiet and started giving out assignments and orders.

Rick strode into the kitchen and found Lori's side immediately.

"We'll be back soon" He mumbled giving her a brief kiss on the cheek. "Hershel says he hasn't been up this way much but there may be something of use to the north of us" She whispered something to him and he grinned "Watch over Carl" He added before turning around and heading towards the door.

The rest of the group, T-Dog, Glenn and Daryl were already there, ready to go with weapons in hand. Carol caught his glance if only for a second before he disappeared out the door with the rest of them. The thought of sitting around the house and waiting for everyone to come back was enough to make her go crazy. That added to the fact that all of them were stir crazy from sitting around the house with not much else to do was affecting all of them.

It was especially so for Carol who when not doing work around the house, which was limited due to the fact there was almost nothing left to do, she was left to sit alone with only her thoughts which recently had been all about her daughter. She wanted nothing more than to see her baby one more time. Even to see her grave again would have some sort of closure but she knew that they would never see that farm again and so she was left with thoughts of her daughter from behind all the nightmarish hell happened.

She found herself weary and tired. It was the middle of the day, but the other women and Carl seemed to have most of the work under control. She found herself curling up on the couch which had been dusted the cushions shaken out. She lay there for awhile, staring at the wooden ceiling before falling into sleep.

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Rick, T-Dog and Glenn quickly climbed out of the red and white truck they had traveled in. Around them was a small four way intersection Moments later Daryl rumbled in on his bike. On one corner was a gas station connected to an old fast food joint. Two of the corners were bare of any buildings and only had some decorative floral arrangements which had long since withered away and on the opposite corner farthest away from them was the tiniest of convenience stores.

It didn't look to be much but it was better than staring at the inside of the house for another day. The area looked to be mostly clear. They spotted a few walkers as they rode in but easily dispatched them as they got out of the truck. They stood close together as they exited before breaking off into two teams. One would scavenge what remained of the convenience store and the other would do the same with the gas station. T-Dog and Rick carried with them the siphoning equipment and headed for the gas station.

Daryl seemingly floated across the road with the quick silent steps he made, his crossbow out in front of him ready to fire at any given notice. He found that sitting in the house was driving him absolutely crazy and that wandering around the forest that surrounded them or hunting meat that wasn't there anymore was starting to irritate him as well. So yes, he jumped at the chance to do something else for a change. Even if it meant that he went out into potentially dangerous situations. At the given time however, it was much more of an improvement then sitting around.

He and Glenn worked well as a team. Both were quick and efficient and knew exactly how to get things done. As soon as they entered the building, Daryl ducked low to the ground and stepped lightly towards the front counter. He could see ahead of him the top of a head standing stagnant in one of the isles near the back. He motioned it to Glenn who did the same and followed him. They approached it with ease and by the time the walker had noticed they were there, a knife was protruding from its skull. It dropped to the ground with a thud.

Glenn gave a huge ass grin as he rose to a standing position and brushed quickly to the other side of the store, his weapon out in front of him. It was a very small store and the only other body they found was that of one eaten to the bone. Glenn cringed they had passed it.

"Our man over here must have gotten hold on him" He spoke. Daryl grunted in reply before letting the bag slung around his left shoulder slip to the ground.

"Les just git what he came 'ere for" He mumbled before stuffing packaged snacks into the bag. There wasn't much in the way of living supplies here. There were basics such as flashlights and batteries which they could always use, especially since there was no more electricity in the house and it got awful dark without the fire place going.

He eyed the refrigerated section with disgust. Unfortunately there wasn't much in there that they could use because of lack of electricity, but he saw there were a few drinks which he knew would still be good even without it. He opened the door and was pleasantly surprised at the lack of smell he encountered. Thankfully everything was still in its packaging. Even though he could see all the milk that had clearly gone bad, he couldn't smell it. He shoveled in bottles of good ole Gatorade, PowerAde, some water bottles, as well as one or two room temperature sodas. Something in him said that a good carbonated beverage, even cold would lift the spirits of everyone back at the house.

Since when did he really care what everyone else thought? Well apparently since he'd joined this group he'd had a lot of those thoughts lately. He found that he really didn't hate them, only that he saw himself in a different place then where he was when this whole mess started and he really wasn't sure about all of it. He'd had time to think a lot about certain things over the past week, mainly because one particular person wasn't able to impose upon his thoughts.

Not that he thought of her was imposing but the way she followed him like a damn shadow all the time had him tensing up and he wasn't able to focus. Never in his life had he missed a shot because 'something was on his mind' but he found that plenty of little critters were thanking their lucky stars because Daryl fuckin Dixon missed his target.

And so he'd made a complete jerk of himself by avoiding her at any chance he got. He needed to get his head clear and he found that the best way to do that was when she wasn't around because when she was, his mind was in constant motion.

"I think were done here" Glenn said to break his thought process. He silently thanked the boy before nodding. As they headed towards the exit the boy stopped and he watched as his face flushed.

"I forgot one thing" He stuttered and turned towards the back of the store. He watched as the boy tossed a few small boxes into a small compartment in his backpack. He cleared his throat and gestured for Daryl to take the lead.

Daryl almost laughed. Almost. He wasn't stupid and knew what he'd run back to get. Them kids were at it all the time. He found himself glad he was in the front because the idea was puzzling and embarrassing, but now wasn't the time to stop and think about his sex life, or lack thereof. He had to focus. He shifted into predatory mode as they exited the building. He scanned for T and Rick and found the immediately loading up the trunk with a gas can they had brought with them. T easily hefted into the back of truck and grabbed the second one at his feet and did the same with it.

He looked to Rick who nodded and darted into the store. T scanned around him and found the gaze of Daryl. He nodded towards the man before following Rick into the station.

He and Glenn waited outside pacing around the abandoned four way, waiting any signs of movement.

"We need to get things to burn while were here" Glenn said after a few minutes of silence. "I got a few newspaper and magazines to get fires going but they'll burn right through" He added

Daryl grunted and with his crossbow extended heading east on the road which sloped down and turned into a dirt road leading to a few small buildings and then back into the forest. He gestured towards that way and motioned for Glenn to stay. The boy seemed uneasy about the decision but decided to let it go.

He paced the road quickly, moving fast towards the first building. It wasn't far from where they were parked and he already located a few things in which he could easily grab and return with to burn. He stood in front of the house and lowered his weapon just long enough to pull off one of the shutters of the house. It creaked and groaned as he wiggled and pulled on it until the nails came free. He dropped it by his feet and did the same thing with the next one. He tossed them into a pile and went to the second window on the front of the house. He pulled them off easily enough and threw them onto the pile.

As he walked around the backside of the house he started to hear the groaning. The smell of decay was overwhelming and he fought to cover his nose from the stench. One walker could not be making that much noise. No, this was more than one or two. This was a group and judging from the scent, it was a pretty damn big one.

He grabbed the shutters quickly before darting off to the center where he'd left Glenn.

"Get a fuckin move on" He growled. "There's a small herd cummin this way" He said pointing to the first few heading out of a patch of trees. Glenn froze up looking upon them. There had to be at least two dozen of them heading this way. It looked as though they hadn't seen them yet, which was a good sign.

Glenn raced to get the other two who were still inside the gas station collecting thing. By the time he managed to pull them out of the store, the walkers had reached the other side of a small creek that separated them. Daryl flinched when he noticed the first walker look in their direction and pick up speed. It hobbled faster towards them, and the other behind it noticing the increased speed. The moaning from them got louder.

"Shit we gotta go" Glenn spoke nervously, helping Rick and T piled in the bags they had collected. Daryl tossed the old faded shutters in on top and they slammed the trunk closed.

"Fuck" T cursed as the walkers approached quicker with every second.

"Let's get out of here" Glenn groaned.

"We can't just go back. If we do we'll lead them right to the house" Rick spoke trying to concoct a plan.

"Well we can't just lead em around in the forest. They'll never stop chasing us and by that time we'll run out of gas" T added. "Then we'll be stranded in the middle of nowhere"

Rick nodded. Panic fell over his face as they got closer. They hurried along; the four motionless targets an easy meal.

"Get the fuck outta here" Daryl snarled hanging his crossbow over his shoulder. They stared at him with disbelief. "I mean it. If ya'll get out of here right now then I'll lead em away. My bike's louder anyways"

"You can't…"Glenn started

"I gotta. Now get the hell out of here before they get you too" Daryl spoke before jumping on his bike. It roared to life and he glared at Rick who was at a loss of words. Rick eventually sighed and hopped into the car. For once, Daryl hoped that Rick didn't do anything stupid. But he watched as the truck rolled away towards the way that they came. He quickly circled the bike around to turn the oncoming herd of walkers. He blocked the path to the forest so that he had their attention.

"C'mon you ugly sons of bitches" He yelled at them drawing their attention away from the truck that darted into the forest. As an added bonus he pulled his gun from his belt and fired a single shot into the air. He watched as more than two dozen glazed over cannibal eyes fell to him and him alone. For a moment he felt fear run through him and he found it wasn't fear for himself because who the fuck cared if he lived or died tonight. He found that it was for the woman he'd left behind. He distinctly remembered thinking to himself he needed something more exciting to do around here. He chuckled to himself at the thought.

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With heavy hearts the trio reached the abandoned little house. They were far away from the little intersection and the thought of leaving one of their own on a more then probable suicide plan brought their spirits down. Even with all the pre packaged food and supplies they had managed to collect. The sudden thought of the three packages of condoms in Glenn's bag didn't seem like a thrill anymore. How could he do anything when he was already sick to his stomach?

The joyful mood of the men returning was killed when the women opened the door and noticed that they hung their heads in defeat with looks of sorrow on their face.

"Where's Daryl" Carol finally spoke. Asking the question that was on everyone lips. This couldn't be happening right? He was a Dixon. He'd always told her that nothing could kill a Dixon but a Dixon.

"A herd of walkers rolled in" Rick started and Carol could already feel her eyes welling up. She knew where this was going. "He told us to get out of here and he'd lead em away from the house. Said they'd follow his bike more than us" He spoke mournfully. He decided not to mention the gunshot because he didn't know what it was either. They were already gone by the time he heard it.

She held back a sob. There was no way Daryl would just run off on a mission that everyone knew was suicidal.

"You saw him alive?" Lori asked, breaking the silence again, asking the question she knew was burning in Carol's throat. She glanced over to friend who had her face covered with her hand. She could hear the sniffling and frowned as she suddenly turned away and ran up the stairs.

"Yes" Rick answered. "He was alive when we left"

"Then there is a chance that he'll come back?" Maggie questioned.

"Maybe" Was all that Rick could bring himself to say. He trusted Daryl. He was a good man and knew that he was good for this group. At first he didn't think he was going to be able to rely on someone with such a temper and no compassion for the people around him. But he found Daryl to be exactly what the group needed. He was stern and knew how to handle almost any situation. Even in the current one, he was thinking of the group's safety and so he was risking his life for theirs. He was a natural leader even though he didn't realize it.

The group remained silent before slowly breaking up and started scavenging through all of the supplies they had brought back. Carl hefted the shutters over to the fireplace and set them down in their basket of wood along with the newspapers and magazines they had brought along to get them going. As soon as the group had broken up Carol had bolted up the stairs.

Lori started to unload packages of food but she found herself unable to concentrate knowing her friend was bawling her eyes out upstairs worrying about Daryl. She set them down and had Beth take over her place as she climbed the stairs to follow her. She passed the locked room, which had remained silent and everyone had come to just ignore it. She heard the heart wrenching sobs as she found herself outside the master bedroom door.

"Carol?" She called softly. She knocked on the door and let herself in to the room. She was curled into a tight ball at the top of the bed. She sat on the edge of the bed and she felt horrible for the women next to her. Her tears seemed endless and unrelenting. She tried comforting her, rubbing her back and whispering words to her but nothing seemed to stop the flow. She sighed heavily trying to wait it out until her tears started to stop.

"_Good god_"Lori though to herself. She didn't think the women was capable this many tears. But when it came down to it, she'd lost her husband, good riddance anyways but he was still her husband. She lost her only daughter to walkers, she still remembered that day and how angry she was with Shane. She knew it was the right thing to do but he didn't have to about it in a way that upset everyone. No one could forget the look on Carol's face when Sophia trailed out of that barn just as dead as the rest of them. And now…she was losing Daryl. She's seen the way the two of them seemed to always be together and the smiles on Carol's face when he was around. She was infatuated with him. She wasn't sure why, to Lori, Daryl wasn't much better for Carol then Ed was, they were practically the same person. But it was clear that Carol saw him as something more and she supported her friend.

Finally her choked sobs became fewer. She whimpered against the pillow which was soaked with the tears and snot that were running down her face. When they had become all but a few hiccups she removed her hand from her back and stood up. As much as she wanted to stay and watch her for the rest of the night, she knew that she wanted to be alone. So she walked away and closed the door behind her and went downstairs to get some work done.

The group crowded around the stairs when Lori came down. The same look on all of their faces.

"She's finally stopped crying" Lori told them. "She never said anything, but I really think we should just leave her alone for the time being"

"But she's upset. We can't just leave her up there by herself" Beth insisted.

"Yeah what if something happens to her?" Glenn added

Lori sighed. "We can keep watches on her I guess" She finally spoke. She knew Carol was not the strongest person out there. She was surprised after the death of Sophia that there hadn't been an incident. The group seemed please with her answer and timidly walked away from the stairs. Everyone wanted to be up there, but they found work to do while they waited for a turn.

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She was alone again. It was inevitable but she hadn't thought that it would happen this soon. The loss of her daughter had come as a complete heartbreak. She hadn't even gone to her own daughter's funeral and she kicked herself over and over for that. Now Daryl. She never really gave a name to whatever the two of them were, but she thought they were close, a lot closer than some of these other people to one another. Why was it that he was the one to make the sacrifice? She wasn't angry with the other three men because she knew that she would be upset if one of them had done it instead, but at least she would have Daryl there to tell her that everyone was going to be alright.

Now he was gone and she didn't know if he was ever going to come back. He was such a strong man, but not even he could take on the amount of walkers the rest of the guys had described. Not on his own at least. She grabbed at the necklace around her throat and found herself praying out loud to God. Praying that everything was going to be okay and he was going to come back safe and sound. In this unexpected world it was all she really had to go on. She certainly didn't doubt his skills, but like she had said before. He was just as human as the rest of them and it didn't make him immune to the bites and scratches of walkers.

She tried to imagine him, riding his bike and leading a horde of them away from their friends. What was he thinking? He never wanted to be a hero or in the spotlight, but if he came back he sure was going to get a lot of attention. Unless that was his plan of course. Maybe he planned to never come back. She knew it was not in his blood to want to opt out so that couldn't be the reason, besides he would turn into one of them which she knew was something he never would want. She suddenly thought of a memory, back from when they were still on the farm, right after the ceremony of her little girl.

_She was sitting in the trailer. Alone. Everyone else had gone to the funeral for Annette, Sean and of course her little Sophia, but she couldn't bring herself to go. She didn't want to be around all the sadness and right now she didn't want to deal with all the people telling her that it was going to be okay because she knew it wasn't._

_She felt bad for not thinking about the feelings that Hershel and his family were having right now and she felt worse that she didn't care about them. All she could think of was that her daughter was dead and that she had failed as a mother. What kind of mother didn't go to her own daughter's funeral? A weak one. _

_She sat their staring out the window and looking at the group huddled around the trees. Everyone was there, except for her. When she had mentioned to Daryl that she wasn't going, he stormed off angrily. She knew she was being selfish. After all the things that he had done for her daughter and she just gave up completely. Part of her had known though that even though he went out every day looking for her and that he had found evidence of her life, she knew long before the incident at the barn that her little girl was already dead._

_She knew that was why he was so angry at her, but could he really blame her? She's just lost the most important thing to her and now she had no one left._

_As the rest of the group stood there solemnly, standing over the newly made graves she couldn't help but sigh heavily as she moved through the trailer. She was tired of everything and everyone. This world was a horrible place and now it was even worse without someone to hold onto. She knew it was the wrong decision but at the time it seemed like the best damn option she had. She didn't have a lot of time and so the rushed through of opting out flitted through her mind and latched hold of her._

_It had to be quick and it had to be silent. She didn't want everyone to rush over here in the middle of the ceremony. As soon as everyone had left the trailer she started to search for something that she could use. They had plenty of guns, but they would hear that and she didn't want to attract the attention of the living or the dead. _

_It was time to go she decided. She didn't need any more of this unnecessary pain. Much of the group had left their effects lying around the RV and so she rooted through Daryl's things and found the buck knife which he carried at his side. Deciding it was the best bet because she knew how sharp it was she shakily grabbed a hold of it and slipped of the RV. _

_Her next big decision was where to do it. She hadn't really thought about it much. She didn't want them to come back and find the RV all bloodied up. She thought about doing it outside. It seemed dangerous though because if there were any walkers around they would be attracted to the smell of freshly spilled blood. But in the end she decided that outside was much better then inside. _

_She made her way across the barren meadows of the farm. To her knowledge, no one would have seen her leave the RV and run across the fields. She sighed heavily, panting as her blood coursed through her veins as she reached her destination. The Cherokee rose bush. The one she had found after her daughter's death and ripped to shreds with the lost hope of her daughter. There were still a few torn flowers hanging onto the tree that she didn't manage to kill. She fingered the delicate petal of one of the flowers that had fallen to the ground. It was soft and it reminded her so much of her daughter._

_This was a good a place as any. It had memory and maybe no one would find her out here. She knew that only two people knew of it Daryl and Shane and the possibility of them looking for her there was very likely but the thought of leaving sounded better than anything else she'd heard in a while. The weight of the blade in her right hand was heavy but she found the weight of her heart more significant. She pressed the blade to her skin and lightly drew over it, not making a scratch but outlining. The white line quickly disappeared and she readied the knife again._

_But suddenly there was hot breath on the back of her neck. Strong callused hands took the knife away from her quickly and it fell to the earth beside her leg. It was quiet for a moment; she only heard the sound of her own heavy breathing._

"_There aint gonna be none o'that" His voice spoke. She noticed the anger there immediately. She could feel it swirling around him. But there was something else to his voice. Something gentle._

"_Daryl…." She whispered, her fingers clutching at the ground. She started to cry, it was unavoidable. She didn't think she would get caught. She should have known better with Mr. awesome tracker around. It seemed he was keeping a closer eye on her then she thought he was. _

"_Don't think ya can just opt out on us like that" and then in the smallest whisper she could imagine. "On me" The words hit her and more tears flowed down her already wet cheeks. _

The thought had crossed her mind once or twice after that day but she never came as close as she did then. Daryl watched her like a hawk most of the time and after that day, things got better between the two and she didn't think she had any reason to go about it. But now things were different again. He was gone this time, no one to stop her. There wasn't anyone else in this group that cared about her in the special way that he did.

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The sounds of the walkers behind him started to fade. Luckily the damn beasts were pretty dumb. As he weaved in and out of trees they generally hobbled in the same path the whole time which made it a hell of a lot easier to get away from them. The only problem was that he was miles away from the house and his bike was starting to get low on fuel. It hadn't been used since they took up the place and he had left it there with the same amount of fuel since his last ride. So he was shit outta luck when the needle was finally resting on E.

He turned the bike around sharply, starting to head back in the direction from which he came. The walkers followed him, but they could never really keep up. Eventually he was going to have leave the bike in the middle of the forest and run the rest of the fucking way. The thought didn't seem to bother him much being as he was always running from something when he was a kid. The thought unnerved him a little realizing that a horde of undead cannibals with no reaction to pain were a hell of a lot different than his drunk sorry ass father.

He knew he had a little bit of distance left with the damn thing. And so the thought that he could make it most of the way back to the house pleased him. He didn't like the fact that he was going to have to leave the bike in the middle of a forest but he figured that once this was over he'd get it back to the house, which he sure as hell was planning on. He sure hoped the sheriff and the others were okay with walking through the forest to get his bike.

It was getting to the point where it was almost too dark to see and the thought of trying to weave a bike around trees, bushes and rocks in the dark made him think twice. He thought about his options. He was still a decent bit ahead of the first little group of the horde. If he cut the bike now and started running on foot he could get a decent distance away and then find somewhere to hide. His best bet would be a tree or something.

He checked his belt, his knife was there and he had his crossbow around his shoulder. He had his weapons; everything else he was carrying with him in the saddle bags was just going to be extra deadweight. He swore to himself and cut the engine of the bike. The light around him died and he laid the bike down as gently as he could before taking off like a marathon runner at the Olympics.

His feet pounded hard into the ground as he rushed through the forest. He'd only ever run this fast when he was a kid trying to get away from his father and his next beating. But as a kid he didn't have the muscles that he had now from all the hard work he'd done growing up. He felt like he was soaring across the land, the cold fall wind rushed against his face but he never slowed down.

He glanced behind him. The geeks seemed to know something was different about their situation but they didn't seem to realize that their meal was now much more obtainable. One slip up and he could be surrounded. He knew he couldn't keep up with this pace forever. He needed to find somewhere he could stop and wait it out. Maybe if he got away quick enough they wouldn't be able to find him and wander away in a different direction.

He nearly ran into a tree as he made a sharp veer to the left. He saw a tree up ahead he knew he could get into. His lungs were on fire and his blood pounded as he reached it. There were a few broken off branches he could use as footholds to get higher if he could just get up there. He swore under his breath as he neared the tree and took a leap, hands reaching out to the lowest foothold he could.

He sucked in a breath as he felt the broken off piece press into the palm of his hand, cutting him. Now he had two marked up palms. He growled at the feel of the wood against the open cut but he told himself that it was for the good of his survival. He hung there for a few seconds, though it felt like ages. The walkers must have found his overturned bike by now without their meal on top of it. They still pursued, following the lingering scent of meat through the forest. He could tell when they smelled his blood because he heard the sounds of their riled up moaning and the shuffling of leaves was closer.

_Dammit_ He thought to himself. He hung there like bait. He had to get himself higher. He strained his arm muscles, telling himself this was a life or death situation. Slowly he began to pull himself up. There was nothing under his feet for support expect for the side of the tree which didn't help him much. He found his shoulders level with the support he was holding onto when he felt the touch of the walkers below. They were swatting at his dangling boot, anxious to try and pull him down. They reached for him and he did his best to kick them away without losing the progress he'd already made.

Finally using most of his strength he managed to grab a hold of the next highest foothold and strained his muscles again to pull himself towards it. His breathing came as heavy pants and his face was blood red as he was finally able to pull one of his feet on top of the first rung. Unless he made a fatal fuckin mistake now, he was safe for the moment. The amount of moving undead bodies below him turned out to be more then they had estimated. They circled the tree completely, their blood broken fingernails clawing at the bark of the tree, ripping off skin and leaving blood smears everywhere. Yet they never stopped relenting.

He sighed heavily and forced himself to stop and take a few large breaths as he straddled the first branch he could get onto. It was the most uncomfortable fucking thing and it was weak, much weaker then he was hoping but for now it looked like it would hold him. As long as he didn't put a lot of pressure on it, it should hold him there fine.

"Fuck all y'all" He yelled at them, flicking them off and spitting in their rotten faces. "I aint goin anywhere" He closed his eyes and leaned against the back of the tree uncomfortably against his crossbow. His hand stung and it continued to bleed. He grinned, entertaining the thought of letting his blood fall into their crowd, but it would only encourage them more. He wasn't going to be able to stay up here forever and he hoped that eventually they would see it as futile and leave him the fuck alone.

He knew he wasn't going to be able to get much sleep, or any sleep at all for that matter. He was going to have to stay up and listen to their intolerable screeching and moaning and smell decay all night. But as long as he was alive, the thought didn't seem to be that bad. He sighed in relief and for the second time that day felt a chuckle at the back of his throat. He wasn't going to wish for something exciting to happen anymore.

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The rest of the survivors were discouraged when they did not see Daryl return that night. It was obvious to everyone that something bad had happened to him and that he was more than likely dead already. Many of them wept and said silent prayers for them, but they were already convinced of the inevitable. Still they tried to make dinner as pleasant as they could.

Carol would not come down from her room and the rest of group had a depressing dinner in which no one said a word. Afterwards they cleaned up and moped around the house. It was late any many of the group had already went to bed for the night, trying to not to remember what had happened on the dark day.

When everyone had gone to bed, Carol sat on the couch in front of the dwindling fireplace. It was burning with the wood that Daryl had picked up before he noticed the group of walkers coming towards them. If not for him, the group might not have noticed them in time. He was a hero. She cursed at him, thinking about what she'd said before about him being a henchman to Rick. The man was way more of a man then anyone else here. Sure Rick had gone on missions that seemed impossible but somehow they didn't seem as important as this one. Maybe it was because at this point their group was so small and everyone was so close to each other now. The death….she couldn't finish that sentence.

Was it possible for him to still be alive? Somehow he had lead the group away and maybe he had gotten away from the group so that right now he was on his way back. By morning, he would be outside again hunting and he would come home the next evening with a handful of big fat critters and everything would be the same. She had to be strong, she knew that he wouldn't want to just fall apart like last time, but this was ten times harder and she didn't know if she could do it. She was exhausted from all the crying and the worrying thoughts. She curled up on the couch, taking a last look at the window before laying down and falling asleep.

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His hunter eyes opened to find that morning had already come. The air around him was quiet and he looked down to see that the majority of the walkers had abandoned their effort. There were only a few left and he tried to look around to see what direction they had wandered off to. He saw evidence of shuffle in the direction opposite of the house. He couldn't tell what happened until he got down from the damn tree. He leaned forward and unstrapped his crossbow holding it in his hands. His hand stung like crazy and when he looked at it, it was still angry and red.

Still, he gripped his crossbow and aimed at the nearest walker. A woman in a dress that he presumed was once white. Her hair was straggly and caked with dirt and blood and she stumbled around in a circle below him. He aimed and quickly fired the arrow. It plunged through the top of her head and she dropped instantly. The other seemed to notice that something was up and found that their meal was still in tree.

The remaining four or five walkers clawed at the tree desperately, trying to reach him.

"I can keep doin this" He yelled at them. He reloaded the bow quickly and fired the next arrow. This was a hell of a lot easier then moving around and trying to shoot and it was even better when they all stood in the same place. "Easy fuckin targets" He spat at them. He did the same thing with the third target. It dropped a alongside the others with a thud. As he went to load the final arrow however he heard the rustling of bushes coming from the west. He looked to his left and saw that one of the bushes on the ground below was moving. Someone was here. He watched below as a hooded figured darted out from behind it.

In her hand was a big fuckin katana which easily swiped clean through two walker heads. They dropped, heads split open and then there was silence. The figured looked around, not noticing him immediately. He watched the figure stalk around the tree taking everything in. He watched as the figure paused for a moment as to think about what happen and then it looked up to meet his gaze.

A women was his first thought. Her skin was dark and her eyes narrowed as she met his gaze. She flicked her katana towards him.

"I'm no threat" He spoke to her. "As ya can see I climbed up here ta get away from these damn things" He explained. She continued to stare and it didn't look like she trusted him but she remained completely silent.

"Michonne don't" A voice spoke. In an instant he recognized it

"Blondie?" He questioned. "That you? Holy hell she's alive" He said with a grin across his face. Andrea stepped into his view.

"He's a friend" She spoke to her silent friend. "He's part of the group that I told you about" The women called Michonne didn't say anything but she lowered her weapon and stalked off out of view.

"Your pretty damn lucky" She called up to him. "We've been running away from that herd for a while too, managed to hold out in a shack not too far from here. Where is everyone?" She asked

"We had a supply run goin when these here monsters came outta of nowhere. I lead em off their trail"

"How noble of you" She added sarcastically "I bet everyone thinks you dead"

"Probly. But I ain't. I know how ta get back too"

"It's good to see you Daryl" She added. "Glad to see you made it"

"You too Blondie. Everyone's worried bout you"

"How is everyone?" She asked

"Ya can see for yurself when you get back tonight" He said with a smirk. He watched as the girl's face fell in confusion.

"Was wrong" He asked "Your friend don't play well with others?" He asked gesturing towards Michonne who was returning. When he heard the rattling of chains he looked over to see that she was tugging around two jawless, armless walkers with collars around their necks.

"What the fuck's wrong with ya women?" He called down to her. "Carrying around two goddamn geeks"

The women remained silent, glaring up at him. Andrea stepped in.

"Those geeks have kept us alive. Michonne found me not long after I managed to make it off the farm. They come in handy, especially when were out in the open. They camouflage us to the rest of them" She explained.

As much as he wanted to shoot the fuckers down where they stood, it was a good idea and he was out of arrows.

"You wanna get down from there" She asked.

"Is bout time ya asked" he growled. Held out his crossbow which he hung over the edge of the branch. "You break it and I have your head"

She scoffed but caught his weapon and set it down on the ground next to a portion of slice up zombie head.

"How are you planning on getting down exactly?" She asked

"The same way I got up" He retorted. Carefully, he went from straddling the branch to dropping on the ground. He wiped his hands against his jacket.

"You got a pretty deep cut there" She noticed

"Nothing that can't be fixed. I'm fine" He spoke. He immediately grabbed the crossbow at her feet and slung it around his shoulder.

"So where are the others?" She asked. He stopped and pointed in the direction of the house and then started walking in the opposite direction.

"Well then what the hell are you doing?"

"I left ma bike over there" He gestured. "I'm gettin it"

She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Do you really think we have time for that?"

"Don't care. I'm not leavin without it" And with that he continued to walk in the direction of his fallen bike. It wasn't far and after a few minutes of briskly walking to it, there it was laying on its side. That bike along with a few rotten memories was all he had left of his brother. And although his brother was just as bad as his father, they were still brothers. With a grunt he heft it up and started pushing it back in the direction they needed to go.

"You aren't riding it?" She asked.

Daryl glanced over to the dark skinned women. She hadn't said a word during all of this, just stood there, her hand on the hilt of her weapon. Her eyes never left his figure, like she was watching for him to strike at Andrea. It'd only been a little over a week and this woman was so trusting and protective of the blonde girl. He gestured towards Michonne.

"With dem walkers she aint gonna be able to keep up. And you two haven't a clue where the hell yur goin"

He started to wheel his bike away, not bothering to make sure if they were following him. She seemed to be in pretty good hands with the mysterious women at her side. Sure the others would be mad at him if they found out that he had found her and not brought her back, but it wasn't his job really. Plus, if she didn't want to come with her or more importantly if Michonne didn't want to come it didn't seem like that big a deal.

Speaking of Michonne. The woman gave him the fuckin creeps. He felt like she was gonna slit his throat any second and that kind of woman put him on edge. He tensed up when he heard the rattling of the chains behind him. So they were following him. How would the others react to this stranger? Especially since she pulled around walkers like they were dogs. Some really fucked up dogs he might add.

As they paced through the forest, it gave him time to think about things, they had quite a distance to cover. He wasn't sure how things were gonna go down when they got back to the house. With the addition of this new woman and her pets, it could put the group in a state of unease, although they were using her tactic already with the dead walkers, the difference was that these walkers were alive. They couldn't be much of a threat thought since their mouths were missing an all. Shane would have shot them on site, that's for sure, but Shane wasn't with them anymore. Rick would be more tolerant he thought, though he wasn't sure how he was really going to react. His family was the most important him to him and if he saw them as a threat then they would probably have to go.

If Michonne wouldn't stay what would that mean for Blondie? Would she go with her or stay with the group and where would that leave the dark skinned woman. The next thought was something he found he couldn't deal with and something he didn't really want to deal with.

Carol. Just thinking her name brought too many emotions to the surface. All of which he didn't want to deal with. He wasn't sure what this was or how he was supposed to go about it. When he had been sitting in that tree, the thought that he might not make it back alive came to him once. It really wasn't that big a deal. He'd said it before; his death wouldn't mean much to everyone. He was just some redneck from the hills that happened to traveling around with these normal people. He knew thought that if he'd really died, it would be heartbreaking to her.

There was a certain closeness that was there. Never before had he wanted to even consider his thoughts and feelings, but he found there was something about her that was starting to break down these imaginary walls that he had put up around himself. They've been there all of his life and never once was there anyone to even get near them. It was like there was a force field around the walls, but somehow she had wormed her way in around it.

He cursed at himself. Emotions. They made a man weak. Everything except anger made you less of a man, he'd never forget that. Part of him really didn't want that to change. He wanted them to remain there and never let anyone near him. He was just a man who found a group of people who also needed help and they'd travel and survive together until this thing ended. If it ended. If not, then he would travel until he died and then he'd be one of them too. Hopefully someone had the common sense to put him down.

What started to eat away at him first was that damn little girl. Something about her mother and needing to find her had made the first little crack. Her disappearance, the desperation of her mother, the group's determination to find her. Those things ate away at him, hell he'd nearly died trying to find her. And for what? It was two things. Whatever softness he had in him didn't want to see child wandering around in the woods alone. It was almost like...him. He shook the memory away, now was not the time. Her mother was the other reason. He hated it, hated it with a passion, but there was something there for the woman. Something deeper than just being a fellow survivor. He knew that he wanted to see her survive, make it out of this alive, be happy with the rest of her life.

He certainly didn't know if he wanted to be in the rest of her life, but he knew damn well he was gonna try and do everything he could to make sure nothing happened to her. He was afraid of these feelings, never experiencing this sort of thing before. It was awkward for someone who hadn't had but a handful of encounters with women. But they were nothing special; he didn't even remember their names.

Before the thoughts delved into something deep he saw the corner of the house up ahead. He smirked and turned around to look at Andrea and Michonne who were scanning the area. Everything seemed to be calm. They stopped as they reached the front porch. Andrea had a huge smile on her face.

"Finally home" She mumbled to herself. She turned to Michonne who attached the two walkers to a tree nearby the house. Her hand was still firmly on the hilt of her katana. She smiled at the man next to her. He looked like hell but she was glad to have found him and now the rest of the group she had come to love. The three of them stood outside. They were tired, dirty, hungry and thirsty, but they were home.


	4. Chapter 4

This waiting for Carol's fate is really killing me. I saw the clip for the beginning of the episode where Glenn is digging three graves but I know it's because their assuming that she's dead. Everything will be okay right…right? Anyways, I'm starting to get the romantic feelings going between them now, like is aid before I promise there will eventually be romanticness and rated M things but I'm doing my best to keep Daryl in character. Also I think I'm going to be working on a second Caryl fic, which has nothing to do with this one. I was listening to my iPod and there are quite a few songs that fit the two of them.

Finally I would like to thank everyone for being so positive about the story thus far. Seeing the reviews, likes and follows is really helping. I'm a first year to a university and adjusting from community college to here isn't going so well. I had to drop one of my classes and the rest of them are stressing me out. Writing always seemed to help before and I makes it better when there are people out there that are interested. Without anymore delay, chapter 4.

DxC DxC DxC DxC DxC DxC

It was mid morning after the day that Daryl had disappeared. The mood of the house was still depressing and everyone went about their morning chores with an air of constant sadness. Breakfast was made by Carol that morning but she found that she couldn't put her heart into it like she normally did. With not much food around, she tried to make the best of all of their meals so there was something to look forward to. She found that she couldn't concentrate on making something good today and so when she almost added a large amount of pepper instead of cinnamon to their morning oatmeal, Lori had to dismiss her from the kitchen.

She wandered away from the kitchen and all the other women and back to the couch which she had started to become too familiar with. It was where he slept and kept constant look out from and she found herself drawn to it. She sat down and watched the hustle and bustle of everyone around the house doing what was necessary, and here she was sitting on the couch watching it all go by. But she didn't want to move, she didn't really want to do anything.

She realized that she was way more attached to the hunter then she thought she was and she didn't know how to feel about that. She knew that the possibility of him reciprocating was slim to none and really why would he? They had a difference in age and their personalities were completely opposite of one another. Sure they had some kind of connection and he was 'nice' to her but Daryl was not an emotionally attached person and she didn't expect him to ever change. Getting involved with him would be no better for her then it was with Ed. Why then, if she knew that he wasn't any good for her that she was so smitten for him? She cursed herself for being so weak and childish.

Her thoughts were broken when there was a sudden rapping on the door. It was heavy and loud and it sounded angry. Had someone found them? They weren't completely invisible with all the cars around but they were in the middle of nowhere and the chances of live people finding them were small. Or so they thought. And if it wasn't people then when the hell did walkers learn to start knocking? The house went still and everyone froze in place for a moment, panic was evident on everyone's face. Then the knocking came again. Rick, Hershel and Glenn who were the closest to the door at the moment grabbed their weapons and pointed them at the door.

"Who is it?" Rick asked toughly, attempting to intimidate whoever was there. Surely whoever it was would be reasonable.

"Don't gimme that shit" The voice called "And don't ya dare blow holes in me"

The mood in the house suddenly lifted, all previous tenseness faded away and everyone had a smile on their face. There was no displacing that voice and tone. Rick lowered his weapon and strode over to the door opening it with gusto. The hunter stood there panting, covered in blood, sweat, and dirt and clearly irritated. Standing with him were two women.

"Daryl" He spoke relieved giving him a man to man handshake. After all the shit that went down last night, he was more than happy to see the man come back home relatively unharmed. He noticed the blond women standing beside him immediately after "Andrea?" He questioned.

The survivors suddenly swarmed around the door. Andrea was home? She'd made it off the farm alive.

One moment, the sadness welled in Carol's heart and made her whole body sluggish and heavy. But then she heard his voice at the door and Rick was talking to him? He was home. Tears welled up in her eyes. He had made it home alive and he had managed to find Andrea alive as well. Relief flooded thought her for Daryl and for Andrea. Back on the farm, Andrea had saved her and then she ran. She didn't know what happened to her and she wasn't sure what was going to happen between the two of them. It was Daryl's homecoming that brought her the most joy. What reason did she ever have to doubt him?

"Hey everyone" Andrea spoke with a huge smile across her face as she stepped in the door after Daryl. Following her was the mysterious women. Everyone stopped for a moment to get a good glimpse of her, she was a stranger in their midst and most of the time they didn't take nice to anyone new.

"Everyone….this is Michonne" Andrea gestured to the women. The woman called Michonne was silent, careful and ever watching. Carol watched her intently from her place on the couch, she seemed to be very tense and she watched Andrea like a hawk.

"She found me after the night on the farm. She saved me" It was clear from her voice that she thought highly of the women. The group was still tense and Rick stepped forward as their leader. Silence hung in the air as he stared the women down; her gaze was hard and unrelenting.

"Is she mute?" he asked

The women didn't reply and her gaze flickered from Andrea back to the man. Andrea cleared her throat.

"Michonne doesn't talk much. But that doesn't make her dangerous I promise. She wouldn't do anything to hurt anyone in this group"

Rick stared at her for a few more seconds before putting down his gun and motioned for the others to do the same. Concern was written on everyone's faces, but Rick seemed to trust her.

"Is this everyone?" Andrea asked glancing around. Everyone that she remembered to be there was still with them, which means they had been doing okay for the past week or so.

"Yea" Rick answered. "We've been holding up here for most of the time. It's safe and we haven't had any problems until yesterday when we went to get supplies"

"Daryl told me" She answered "What about Shane?" She asked. The rest of the group looked at Rick. With the exception of Carl, none of them knew the truth about what happened to the loose cannon cop on the edge.

"He didn't make it" Rick finally answered. He paused for a moment as to contemplate something. "I think it's about time to tell ya'll what happened that night" He said with a sigh. When the group said nothing he continued on.

"I killed him. I killed Shane. He came at me… killed Randall to get me into the woods. He planned it. I h..had no choice. I gave him every chance and he kept leading me further out…. He pushed me and I let him. After a while I knew what he was doing what he was up to, and I kept goin…. I didn't stop. I could have but...I just wanted it over." He paused for a while to gauge everyone's reactions. Most of the group stared at him with a blank face. Carl had turned his head, he knew what had happened to Shane, and he'd been there. He had been the one to kill him once he started walking again. Lori's reaction was the one he was dreading. He knew about the relationship between the two of them. They were being open and honest and he accepted it because of the terms that it happened under. Of course he was angry with both of them, but he wanted to just move on. Fighting amongst themselves in this world wasn't going to do them any good.

But Lori was open mouthed and reaction was that blank kind of stare that just said 'what the fuck did you just say you monster.' He knew it was a bad idea but he kept going. " He just kept dogging me every step of the way." He paused again and turned to look and talk to Lori in particular. "He acted like I stole you and Carl, like I was in the way…. I just wanted it over."

That was when the realization set it. That night had been confusing with Shane trying to kill him and then reanimating without being bitten. And then that whole mess with the giant herd of zombies invading the farm. There wasn't much time for thoughts or emotions, only staying alive and forming a plan. "I wanted him dead" He finally stated. The group remained silent. Many of them weren't fans of Shane anyways and so when they heard the news that he had been brought down well it was once less thing to worry about for them. But for Andrea, Lori and even Carl, the emotions ran thick.

Lori stood up quickly, anger written all over her face. This not what she wanted to hear from him. He went to reach for her, anything to pull her back to him because he could already feel her slipping away. The rest of the group watched as his fingertips brushed her crossed arms and she flinched away from him. Carol was stunned. She knew that Shane meant a lot to her, she talked about him quite a bit before Rick had re appeared that day but to distance herself from him like this? Lori's face hardened with anger and anytime that he came towards her she backed away. She was nearly at the steps when he had finally stopped. She met his confused gaze before bolting up the steps.

Everyone watched as Rick stood their dumbstruck. No one knew what to do. Should they comfort him or just walk away slowly.

Rick couldn't put into words what he felt. He knew that telling Lori that he'd been the one to kill Shane and not some walker wasn't going to go over well with her, but he expected a little more. When she had told him about all those things, he's accepted it and now here she was not giving him the same damn chance.

Carol watched as Daryl turned away from the group and stepped outside the wooden door slamming behind him. Too many emotions for the Dixon boy is what she presumed. He was just going out to let off steam right? She sighed heavily though. He had just gotten back and she wanted to get in a few words with him but as always she was too cowardly to get anywhere near him. She shook her head walked away from the main hallway as well. She went into the kitchen, where breakfast was being made. It had never been finished though. She took the pot of oatmeal that they had started to make and made her way to the unlit fireplace.

There wasn't much wood left again, they had used a lot of it during the night. She wasn't even really sure how to start the damn thing.

"I got it" Rick spoke kneeling beside her. She watched as he knelt down and got everything together to start the fire. He wasn't hisself at all. Rick was confident, a leader and he knew just what to do whenever anything bad happened. She suspected that he wasn't expecting the reaction he got from Lori and he was puzzled on what to do to make it right. But she knew there wasn't anything that he could do. This wasn't his problem it was Lori's and if Lori didn't want things to improve then they never would.

The thought stirred her. Although the situation was much different from her own, she found it to be somewhat similar. Nothing was ever going to happen between her and Daryl if no one tried and she knew that Daryl would never make a first move. What if the thought hadn't even occurred to him? It was possible that even thought she took all of his actions for something, that they really didn't mean anything to him.

Maybe it was another woman? They did have that age difference after all, maybe it was because he was interested in someone else then poor Carol. She dismissed the thought. It couldn't be another woman because he'd never expressed any interest in any of them either. Not once had she seen any kind of real interaction between him and say Andrea. And with all those things that he'd done and said for her, well she concluded that there had to be something there. Maybe she just needed to work on coaxing it out of him. She knew however that this was not going to be an easy task and it defiantly wasn't going to happen overnight. She would try for it, but she would never push him. They already had something; even if it was small it was there. She just had to kindle it.

She watched as the fire came to life in front of her. It started small and weak, but as it ate through the newspaper and covered the wood it started to burn with more fervor until it had become a cute little fire. She chuckled to herself at the thought of comparing her and Daryl to an inanimate object. She placed the pot on a rack they'd set up above the fire and sat back and waited for their meal to be done.

DxC DxC DxC DxC DxC DxC

He returned from his quick stalk in the woods not long after he left. The last thing he really wanted was another search party to come and find him because he had just off and left and all. This whole thing with Rick and Lori and Shane, it was annoying as hell. Shane was the way he was all in the name of love. Is that what love did? What it meant to people? Well he sure as hell didn't want a part of that right now then. The only thing that it was going to do was tear people away from each other more. The group had already started to fall apart; he wondered what would happen now. How long would it take them to completely fall apart?

The good thing that came out of Rick's little outburst in there was that everyone's attention had been focused on what happened to that bastard of a cop instead of asking him all sorts of questions and giving more attention to him. The reunion of Andrea with the group was another and since Michonne had come along well then that was the whole fuckin iceberg. There was no way anyone would have thought about what had happened with him cause they would be too damn concentrated on everyone else.

When he returned there was the smell of cinnamon in the air and he glanced at the empty fire place. He scoffed knowing he had missed breakfast. Before he could look around to find something else to eat or something else to do, Carol was standing in front of him with a full bowl.

"I know you're hungry" She said to him offering the bowl. "You were out all night"

"Thanks" He muttered taking it from her. It was still warm.

"What happened last night?" She asked. "Everyone came back and they acted like you had already been killed"

"Well I ain't dead" He gruffly replied "The story don't matter if I'm alive"

"But…it matters to me" She whispered. "You disappeared and didn't come back….I..I thought" She felt her throat close up. Damn it she wasn't allowed to cry now. She hung her head, unable to look at him.

"You shouldn't be so worried" He mumbled "I tol ya before. Nuthin can kill a Dixon but a Dixon and I meant it" He watched her carefully, she didn't seem to like his answer much. As much as he wanted to tell her to shut the fuck up and leave her alone.

"Listen…if ya really wanna know I'll tell ya alright? How bout later tho?" he asked. Dammit where the hell did that come from? He was about to finally get some peace and quiet without having to explain himself like he wanted all along and she comes along and asks and he falls apart.

_What the hell is wrong with you Dixon? _He thought to himself. _This sure as hell ain't like you._ It was nothing like him. Since when did he care about what other people were feeling enough to go out of his way to make himself feel uncomfortable? Cause this was defiantly going to be something that he regret later. Goddamn if she made him talk about any sort of feelings he was marching out on her and didn't give a fuck.

She nodded. Seeming happy with the answer and she couldn't help but smile at him. He looked into her eyes and found they she had tears welling up in them. He cursed.

"What the hell you cryin for woman" He growled "I'm back ain't I? Ain't no reason to cry"

"I'm sorry" She apologized. "I'm just happy you're back safe and sound" She mumbled wiping away the small tears that had formed.

"Ya cry when yur happy to?" He asked bewildered. "Ain't never seen that before. Tears 'r' tears as far as I see it" He spoke. And boy was he uncomfortable with any kind of tears. Didn't matter if they were cause you were sad or apparently cause you were happy neither.

"Jus….go clean up er somethin…I gotta go talk to Rick" he motioned towards the sheriff and stalked off away from her.

To say he was confused was an understatement. In addition to having to talk to her later about what happened with him then she starts crying tears of happiness over him? Who the hell cried when they were happy anyways? Fuck this. He couldn't understand anything about anybody. He wanted to get the fuck away from everyone and all these pestering emotions. He never wanted anyone to think about him, not in a good way at least. If they were afraid of him well then that sure worked in his favor. Carol was different, much different. She wasn't afraid of him, but he couldn't place exactly what it was. Was it that she pitied him? He fuckin hated that more than anything, but for some reason that didn't seem to be the case.

She seemed to really truly care about why he had gone missing and what happened to him. About him in general. She was always around making sure that he got fed and that he was getting enough sleep and cleaning his clothes and all that domestic shit for him. No one in his life had ever done anything like it for him and he wasn't sure how to place the feeling that it gave him. So when she revealed that she was happy that he was back it took him by surprise. Sure he protected her, he always wanted to after that whole thing with Sophia and how upset she got. He was starting to feel…something towards this woman.

Initially the thought had scared him that someone was looking out for him and really truly cared for him. As he'd lived with her longer and longer however, this feeling of fear started to turn into something else, When he was stuck in that tree he sat there thinking that he was hopin that she'd be alright there by herself without him and that he hoped he didn't hurt her too much for being away. These things he was feeling, he wasn't used to them and was afraid of them, but he was starting to accept them more. He was starting to accept that she really cared for him and he kinda liked it.

He didn't have to dwell on these thoughts however. In the gun room Rick, seemed to be talking with a group of them including Maggie, Glenn, Hershel and Beth. He walked away from Carol and from his thoughts and strode over quickly to the sheriff, taking a place by his side with a nod to him

"Were havin a discussion here about what were doing about this house. Now there isn't much left to work on, a few windows could be boarded over some more and that's about it, but there are other concerns" Rick filled him in. The man seemed to be completely different from only moments ago where he was stressed out, upset and confused. Daryl had to commend him; even trouble with his personal life was not enough to keep the sheriff from properly leading the group.

"There's also the matter of sleeping arrangements of course. Were all glad to welcome Andrea back of course, and the addition of Michonne will be good as well" He added

"Are you sure about her Rick?" Maggie asked. "She hasn't said anything for herself to prove that she's trustworthy"

"Andrea trusts her, so should we" Rick mentioned.

"I don't think it should work like that" She argued. "The woman is carrying a very large sword and I'm sure she knows how to use it. Plus what if the two of them are in leagues and just came back to kill us?" She asked

"And what good would that do them?" He retaliated.

"We have food, water, supplies. Vehicles. That food will last two people a hell of a lot longer than twelve"

"If I may" Daryl spoke looking at Rick who nodded.

"Maggie, you showed up outta nowhere on a horse and took Lori away. You were a complete stranger but you never tried to kill us"

"But that's not the same here. I took Lori to get her back to Carl" She retaliated

"An' Michonne took Andrea to save 'er life and help 'er find her way back ta us" Spoke the hunter. "It ain't no different" He concluded.

Rick nodded. "Daryl's right. She isn't a threat. So she stays" He glanced to Maggie who looked angry, but didn't try to argue anymore.

"So back to sleeping arrangements. We have a very limited amount of space here. We have two floors, this room, the gun room and one room upstairs" He spoke counting on his fingers

"We'd have two if we opened the other room up there" Glenn suggested

"It's locked from the inside" Daryl started "We haven't been able ta get into it"

"But what if there's someone alive up there?" Glenn asked

"IF they were alive they would have answered when we knocked the first time" Rick answered. "That room could have anything in it. Corpses, walkers, it could even be empty. We don't know"

"Maybe we should find out" Maggie suggested. "We have more people to situate" He spoke sorely to the sheriff. He took a deep breath and looked to the people around him.

"Fine…we'll open the door. Daryl and Glenn I want you right behind me when I do it" He commanded. Daryl grunted quickly in agreement followed by a nod by Glenn. Rick nodded to both of them and the three of them proceeded up the stairways. The room was immediately to the right of the stairwell just around a railing.

The sheriff rapped on the door lightly and pressed an ear to it. It was just the same as when they first moved in. Daryl had told em that he didn't hear anything behind the door and so he'd left it alone. He knew to trust the hunter's ear over anyone's and so they let it be for the time being. Now here they were trying to open the damn door because they needed all the space they could get. Everyone was going to want a little bit of privacy although total privacy was a luxury they couldn't afford right now. He inspected the door carefully, it was different from the others in that below the handle there was a small place for a key.

"Did anyone happen to find a key of some kind around here?" Rick asked, turning to face the other men. They both shook their heads. "Let's look for it first. It'd be better to try and open this thing without breaking the damn door down first if we have the option"

"Where do we look?" Glenn asked. The sheriff paused for a moment in thought; before he could speak Daryl spoke first

"Mos likely the key belonged to the fella of the house. Best place ta check would be on his person and in the main bedroom somewhere"

"The dead guy was naked" Glenn interjected before anyone told him to go down and check the naked guy's body. "There's no way he has a key on him"

Rick nodded. "Your right. It's gotta be in the bedroom somewhere then"

The three of them backed away from the locked door and walked the short distance down the hall and into the master bedroom. It was small, with not a lot of furniture.

"Who the hell lives like this?" Glenn asked "The place is bare and there isn't much else but dead animals and guns" He stopped and turned to Daryl.

"Would ya quit bringin me inta this. Jus' cause I didn't come from much doesn't mean I know every goddamn hick in these woods" He growled

"Dude…I wasn't even trying that time" He spoke quickly. "Then a redneck lived here?" He asked the man.

"Looks that way" He grumbled. "Ma father's place looked similar ta this"

"Any idea what's behind that door then?" He asked

Daryl stopped and eyed the boy. "Could be lotta things. Could be stuff he didn't want the misses to know about? He's probably hidin somethin in 'ere"

"You don't think it's a walker then?" Rick asked him. He shook his head.

"If it was a walker we woulda known it. It woulda made some kinda noise when I banged on the door the first time. Their dumb as shit, but they aint deaf"

Rick paused and looked at the two of them seriously. "Let's just find this damn key so we can settle where everyone is sleeping alright?" He asked "We have other things we have to discuss as well" he muttered. The three of them stopped talking and began searching for the key. There wasn't too many places it could be could there?

Rick started searching through the few drawers there were in the small dresser to the right of the bed. There didn't seem o be much in any of them, a few articles of women's clothing. He opened up another drawer, examined it and then closed it.

"Nothing in here. These are all her things" Rick stated. He wandered over to the other side of the room where the bathroom connected. Glenn started shuffling through the nightstand that was on the side of the bed closest to the window. He presumed it was the man's side judging by the things in the drawer. He searched but the only things that he found were some papers, some ammo and a decent looking watch. He looked at the other two and shook his head.

Daryl looked at the others after going through the dresser that was assumed to be the man's as well and shook his head.

"Nuthin here neither" He muttered.

Rick looked flabbergasted. "Where the hell would he keep it then?" He asked the other two. Glenn shrugged. Daryl crossed his arms over his chest. Where would the bastard keep something which locked up an important room? He sighed and did something he really didn't want to do, he thought back to his childhood.

_He was real young, no older than seven or eight years old. One day he was outside messing around in the yard, poking sticks at things, doin kid stuff. His father had been on a rampage earlier. Who knows how many beers that man had already chugged. His brother? Well fuck him too, he hightailed it out of there as soon as he could. Claiming something about a lady friend he had to get to. So here he was all alone again. _

_Mom had died a while ago. The only person in this hell hole of a house that even gave him a caring second glance. He hated this place, hated his brother, his father, everyone in the world. He wanted to run away from it all. His father had taught him the basics of what he needed to know. How to track food, find good water, and make shelter, everything to make it on his own. So he decided that it was time for him to leave._

_As he wandered in from outside he could hear his father coughing from inside the main room of the house. No doubt sitting on his couch and tossing his weight back in beer. He moved silently through the house, he'd learned that from his father too and made his way to his father's room. He knew if he got caught he'd get one hell of a beating, but his father kept all the weapons of the house in his room and he just had to have something. His father's room was bare, minus a few bits of undecorated plain wood furniture, the trademark animal trophies that hung on the walls and there leaning up against the window was what he was after. All of his father's guns and few knives stood there just waiting to be taken. _

_His young face grinned in delight as he rushed over to pick one up. It was heavy, but somehow he would manage with it, he'd used one before on hunting trips. Luckily he knew where his father kept the ammo as well. There was a little wooden desk on his father's side of the bed. In the top draw of said desk was where his father kept boxes of ammo for all of his guns. All he had to do was sneak a box out and he would be fine. He didn't care that he had only a few dollars to his name. He had a gun and ammo now. He was sure that once he got out there he could make some money selling the skins and meat of anything he caught. As he went to turn to leave the room he noticed something. There was something shiny behind the bed. He set the gun down to investigate and found that hanging behind the bed was a set of keys. _

_He fingered them, all brass and small little keys hanging on the ring. He held onto them wondering what they unlocked. Before he could figure it out though he heard heavy footsteps coming this way. He panicked and set the keys back in the place. He set the box of ammo back in the open drawer and quickly shut it. His father came into his room right as he was placing the gun back against the window._

"_What the fuck you think yur doin in here boy?!" His father drunkenly growled at him._

"_Was jus lookin. I'm leavin now" He spoke trying to worm his way past his father and out the door._

"_Oh no ya don't. Yur in my room without ma permission..." He growled and grabbed a wooden stick leaning against the wall. He tapped it against his palm and a young fearful Daryl knew what was coming next._

The memory was clear in his mind and it took most of him to not storm out on these guys because he relieved one more painful memory. He brushed past Glenn who was still standing in front of the bedside table. He reached in the back of the bed and smirked when his fingers grasped onto the cold metal ring. It seemed like the old fella here had something in common with his father. He grabbed them fingering the small brass keys, they were almost exactly the same. He grunted to Rick who caught them as they flew across the room.

They jingled as they landed in the Sheriffs palms. He glanced up at the hunter, puzzle by the fact that he knew where to look but didn't say a word. The air around the man shifted and he silently understood that he didn't want to talk about. Surprisingly, Glenn just followed Rick out of the room without saying or asking anything.

Rick started testing the keys one by one, there were only a few so it didn't take long to find the right one. As the locked click the group around him stopped. They drew their weapons and prepared for the worst as Rick flung the door open.

Light from the unbarred window filled the mostly empty room. There was a single small bed, but enough space thanks to the lack of furniture for a few people to be able to lie down. That would solve some of their sleeping arrangements. It was a simple room; the walls were bare and white. More animal heads and antlers hung on the walls as the only sort of decoration. The floor was wood like the rest of the house.

"Guess we knew what he was hidin" Daryl spoke a moment later. He lowered his weapon. Sitting against the bed, the walls and piled up on the floor were cases upon cases of beer, ammo and a few more guns.

"Looks kinda like a man cave" Glenn concluded. "Without the TV, sound system and game system" He paused "It's kinda like…Redneck style" He blabbered on.

Daryl had lost interest in the kid and looked around the room. This place reminded him way too much of home and the life he'd come from as a kid. Maybe Glenn was right. Maybe he was just like every single other redneck fucker in the world. He hated every second of it. He hated his childhood and he hated this goddamn house but they were safe here and it was as good a place as any.

"Well at least there's more guns and ammo. That's something that we needed" Rick spoke after a few minutes of silence between the three of them.

"A beer sounds pretty good right now" Glenn spoke nodding with a smile across his face. The other two men stared at him before Rick let out a small chuckle.

"Yea I guess your right" He said with a sigh. The other two knew full well that Rick needed more then a beer right now to solve his problems.

Glenn got a huge smile across his face.

"Maybe we should celebrate then" He spoke. He hefted a case up in his arms and started walking downstairs, the two older men stared at each other for a moment before shrugging and picking up their own cases.

Glenn rushed down the stairs, nearly tripping over himself as he set the case down on the table in the main room.

"Turns out the secret room had a bunch of beer, ammo and guns. Who wants to celebrate!?" He called out. He nearly ripped open the case and pulled out a can before looking around to the rest of the group. They looked either confused or disappointed.

"Come on. What were you expecting up there?" He asked "At least it wasn't a walker"

The group didn't seem to be swayed much by the young kid's charisma and so the tone of the house remained the same. They went about doing their chores and such. Rick and Daryl returned moments later carrying their cases down as well and sitting them on the floor near the stairs.

"I think it's time to discuss the living rearrangements" Rick interrupted. That caught everyone's attention, even Lori was paying attention to him. "There are twelve us now and I know that's a lot for this place. I'm sorry it's not more spacious, but it's better than being in the middle of the woods. We have a roof over our heads and we can protect ourselves like this" He turned to Hershel.

"Are you sure you don't want the master bedroom. Now that were changing we can easily make that switch?" He asked

"I said it before and I won't say it again Rick. Your family should take that room" He argued.

He knew that he wasn't going to be able to change the old man's mind; it was a hard task to accomplish. He wasn't sure about sharing the same bed anymore. He wanted to make things alright with his wife, but she didn't seem to want to have a part of him right now and the tension kept him up at night. But Carl was another story; he wanted to be around his kid every second of every day. Having him close like that was the best thing that ever happened to him.

"Fine. Carl, Lori and I will continue to use the master bedroom" he stated. "At least the bed anyways, there's space on the floor for one or two people"

It wasn't like there was going to be anything going on between him and Lori to deter anyone from staying with them, hopefully they knew that as well.

"We'll take it" Andrea called out. She looked to Michonne who flashed her gaze to Rick, to Lori and back to Andrea. Rick nodded. "The five of us then" He stated. He looked around to the rest of the room and to Hershel.

"Please take the new room" Rick pleaded with the man. "There's a bed and enough room for the four of you" The four of them. They included Glenn now with Hershel's family ever since the two of them started to really get close since their days on the farm. They knew that Hershel was alright with it because well, he didn't try and stop Glenn from being with his daughter.

Hershel nodded. "That's very kind of you Rick" He told the man.

"I don't' mind sleepin on the floor like I have been in the gun room" T-Dog answered.

"Neither do I" Carol replied as well.

That left Daryl. He hadn't spoken up because clearly he didn't want to have to share a room with any of these people.

"Daryl?" Rick asked. Like he really had to.

"You know where I'll be" He mumbled. "Couch is closest ta the door. I'll be there first if sumthin 'appens"

He knew his second in command well. He was cold and rude but he was selfless and he was willing to do just about anything for this group. It made him the perfect watchman.

"Well that settles that" Rick spoke. "Let's get to finishing up around here for the day huh?"

The rest of the group started to file away, going back to whatever it was they were doing before all of the commotion this morning. Rick eyed the hunter as he approached him.

There wasn't much in this house that he could do for these people. It was his job to do all of the outside work and bring in the food, which it certainly wouldn't hurt if he brought a little fresh meat for dinner. Maybe something other than squirrel. So he approached Rick, knowing full well that the sheriff would let him do what he wanted, but after yesterday he figured he wanted to know where he was going out to.

"I'm goin huntin" He told the man. It wasn't a question and he didn't have to ask permission from anyone.

"Alone?" he asked.

"I always have. That ain't changed"

"I'd prefer if you took someone with you after yesterday. There could be more walkers around and if you're by yourself…"

"I handled well enough on ma own jus fine" He retorted.

"I'll go" Said the sudden unexpected voice of the mysterious woman. She glanced between the cop and the hunter who both stared at her like she had two heads. Daryl glanced to Rick who just nodded. He shrugged.

"Ca'mon then" Daryl motioned as he headed towards the door with his crossbow slung across his back.

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Carol watched as for the third time in the past twenty four hours, Daryl had gone off outside and away from the rest of the group, and away from her. At least this time, he hadn't gone alone. Michonne, who had shown no interest in speaking with the rest of the group, had finally reached out to someone other than Andrea. She stopped to think about it for a moment and felt a rush of sadness fall over her.

Although Daryl hadn't chosen for Michonne to go along she feared that the two of them would become much closer and much faster. Sure, she and Daryl shared that special bond, whatever it was, but this was different. Michonne and Daryl, they were a lot alike it seemed. They were both quiet strong types who took action in the face of danger. They would probably get along great was her thought. But that couldn't be right.

"How silly of me" Carol mumbled to herself. The two of them had only just met and it had taken her months of traveling time and one very depressing time in her life for her to get Daryl to really even notice that she existed. Something in her said that although Michonne seemed to be more like him that he wouldn't be interested. And look how quick she was to judge Michonne. She knew nothing about her and she was trying to insinuate things about her. The woman was brought into a group of strangers, all of which were probably creating just as many rumors and stories about the women. It was defiantly hard to be the new person on the group. It was rude of her to ever think such things about her. She was so concentrated with these thoughts in her head that she didn't notice the women that appeared at her side.

"Can I help?" Andrea asked. Carol almost dropped the plate she was holding. How the heck had she been able to sneak up on her like that? Everyone was right about her, her lack of paying attention to her surroundings and what was going on was going to get her killed if she didn't do something about it. But nevertheless she gave the women and smile and handed her a dry towel.

"Can you dry?" She asked the blonde who nodded and picked up a dish. The air around them was silent. All Carol could hear was the sound of cloth rubbing against the dish and the sounds of water splashing as she washed the dishes. Although it had only been a week or so since Andrea had gotten separated from the group, in this world anything was capable in a week. And so she felt ashamed for what she had done on the far.

"Andrea?" She spoke softly, setting the dish down in the sink.

"Hmm?"

"I want to really apologize for what happened back at the farm" She spoke. "I really don't know what I was thinking…I really don't think I was thinking at all actually. Everything happened so quickly and there were walkers everywhere" She looked to the women frightfully. She'd let her down and she something in her said that the strong blonde women wasn't going to like what she had done.

"Carol" Andrea spoke and the older women looked to her. She had a smile across her face and she didn't seem to show any anger at all. It completely surprised her.

"I know it's not your fault. You were doing what you had to do to survive. Everyone was so panicked that night that I'm surprised that we didn't lose more people" She explained. She could feel the breath she was holding release in her chest. Andrea wasn't mad at her. She seemed to be in relatively good spirits actually.

"Besides" Andrea started again. "You weren't the only one that just left me. Rick did too" She said with a laugh. "And if I hadn't made it off that farm the way I did. I never would have met Michonne anyways"

"You seem fond of her" Carol questioned, noticing the look of happiness that came across the younger women's face. She'd known that look. She felt like that was the face that she made when she was around Daryl. Even if the man was in a rotten mood, somehow he always managed to lift her spirits and make her smile. That was how she knew he was different from Ed. Ed was nasty in the meanest way possible and he was like that every day of his life. But Daryl….he was different. He would be angry, angry at her even but never had he once meant her any harm and she always felt like no matter what she didn't have to be cautious about her well being. He had proved that to her back on the farm.

"Michonne is special to me. I know I've only known her for a week, but I feel like I've known her my whole life" She replied with a grin across her face and Carol was surprised when she heard a chuckle come from her mouth. "I hardly know anything about her, but…" She trailed off and looked into the older women's eyes. "Is that crazy or what?" She asked with a smirk across her face, her eyes searching for advice, for answers, for knowledge from the older woman.

Carol could only smile. Even here in the middle of disaster land, these young girls were still looking for advice from someone older than them that they trusted. Although Carol didn't have much knowledge in the way of love, marrying Ed at such age did that to her, she was still a teenager like her once. A teenager that was free of Ed.

"It's not crazy" She returned with a smile. "In these times, I think it's necessary for things like this to be part of our lives. It can only make us stronger"

Stronger. The word was foreign to her. All of her life she had been called weak and pathetic and now here in the new world she didn't feel much different. She knew that she was a burden on these people. All she ever did was clean and cook, which they needed but they needed fighters more. They needed people to rely on to get their hands dirty when all things went to hell. Carol was not one of those people, she always stayed behind. Weak. That was what she was and it seemed like it was never going to change. But she wanted it to change. She felt like that was what Sophia would have wanted her mother to do.

She needed help though. She couldn't do this on her own. She didn't know how to use a gun or a bow or really any type of weapon. When Daryl had given her the axe to take care of her late husband it was the first time she held something that could hurt another person, or undead for that matter. She needed someone with good skills to teach her how to protect herself and the other members of this group. They were family now and that's what families did for each other. She smiled. She had another reason to be able to approach Daryl.

The two women smiled at each other, reveling in the fact that they had a friend and they day was still high and nothing bad had happened. It had been a good day so far.

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The two warriors had set out from the house mid day with only their weapons and a large tarp that had once covered the pile of firewood that once had been there. They had gone through it relatively quickly. That's what happened when you use it for everything. They used it for cooking in the mornings and evening and for heat and light during the nights. He'd thought it something they could use to carry back anything that they managed to gather, be that wood or meat.

At first, he was worried that the women who volunteered to come along would be annoying. He figured since she was another woman that she would be almost as useless as the rest of them in the group and would only hold him down. But she had proved her own already, slicing through walkers and she didn't feel the need to stop and talk about it. She was silent, stealthy and very practical. Her motions were small and necessary and he watched in fascination as she killed, decapitating walkers with ease.

She seemed to notice that he always had an eye on her but she never said anything against him. He presumed that it was because since she was new Rick would want someone to keep an eye on her. Is that why she had wanted to come along? To prove to him, Rick's second in command that she was useful and trustworthy. But she never once stopped to talk and never once complained about anything. Hell she never said one word.

Even though it was getting closer to winter, the sun was high in the sky casting shadows everywhere. It was hot and muggy and it made all of his clothes stick to him like an annoying second skin. He raised his crossbow suddenly and saw that her katana had been raised just as quickly. He motioned for her to stand still, which she did without hesitation. He stopped and peered around a tree. A smirk came across his face.

A few feet away from them were a small herd of deer. There wasn't more than five but it was more than he had seen all fall. He lowered his crossbow a little and peered through the hole. One shot and they could have enough venison to last them for a little while, it certainly beat eating dried squirrel every night. He concentrated and when the moment was right he pulled the trigger and let the arrow fly. It landed in the hind leg of a doe. The rest of the group sprung away quickly, abandoning their wounded friend for safety.

Daryl leapt out from behind the tree and raced through the forest, Michonne at his heels to catch the wounded doe. Although she was wounded she still tried to more quickly through the forest, but she was not quick enough to get away from the hunter. He caught up to her quickly, pulling his knife from his sheath and quickly slitting her neck to end anymore pain. The doe cried out hoarsely before her eyes became dull and her body still.

"Good kill" Michonne finally spoke. Her voice with deep with small accent he couldn't recognize. He nodded in reply pulling the arrow from her hind leg and wiping the blood against her fur.

Michonne hastily grabbed the folded black tarp from the bag she carried at her side and unfolded it laying it on the ground. Daryl grabbed the doe by her hind legs and dragged her body onto the tarp. He started to pull the tarp, dragging the body along the forest floor. The leaves and branches made noise underneath it as it moved along the ground. He nearly tripped as he went to move forward but the tarp behind him wouldn't move with him. He dropped it and turned to face the women.

"What the hell you doin?" he asked

"It makes too much noise" She spoke "Walkers will be able to find us"

"Well plenty of em found us already and they didn't cause no problems" He retorted.

"We did not have fresh blood then"

He sighed. Damn the woman was right. They couldn't keep dragging it along because any walker with a sense of smell was gonna sniff out the blood and come lumbering towards them, and it had only been yesterday since that huge herd had come across here. He didn't know how far the rest of the group had gotten. But they couldn't wander off and just leave the kill there for the same reason. Walkers could get to an easy non moving target and if they got their filthy hands or mouths on it then it was goodbye deer.

He had been really proud of that kill too. It was quickly like he had hoped with minimal damage to it. They could take it back and maybe even have something other than fried meat or jerky.

"We should head back" Michonne suggested. They hadn't gone far from the house and retracing their steps would be easy.

"'for we do" Daryl mumbled. He stepped lightly through the forest, there had been another reason he wanted to come out here. Well for starters he wanted to be out here alone to clear his head after all that nonsense going on inside the house and inside his conscious as well. Although Michonne was quiet he found that he couldn't think the same way with another person here. The real reason he wanted to come out here other then brining back food was firewood. So he trekked along the forest floor and picked up twigs and pieces of bark that had fallen off of trees.

He found a fallen tree not far from where they were and pulled out his knife. He started sawing at some smaller branches pulling them off their parents. When he returned he set down a small pile of thin pieces of wood on the tarp.

Michonne eyed the piled and rolled her eyes. She stalked away from him walking off into the forest. He scoffed. Now she decided to help? He watched her carefully move through the forest until she came upon a small tree. It wasn't a sapling, but it was not that old. It was not hard like the rest of the trees around it. She eyed it carefully and with a swift movement sliced at the base of the tree. She took a few steps back as the small thin tree fell over.

That was when she turned around to face him with a smirk of her own on her face. He huffed angrily but swallowed his pride and went with her to collect it. She sliced it into a few manageable pieces and both of them returned to the tarp with an armful. She was defiantly something alright. He'd never seen a woman so sure of herself like that. The way she looked at him it was like she knew that she was poking at him and that she certainly didn't mind it.

He had taken interest in her when she arrived that as for sure. She seemed so much like him, she didn't need to speak much to be part of the group and she was good with her weapon just like him. She seemed to be emotionally unattached like him as well. And although she was interesting as hell, he found that there was something about her he didn't like about her. Maybe it was because she _was_ so similar to him. He always figured that if a woman had come along into his life that she would be an example of what he was looking for.

Not that he was really ever looking for anyone, not like a lot of people did. He was never interested in being with someone, he wasn't quite sure of why that was exactly, but one day he'd figure out the answer. He found thought that although the mysterious woman was like him in quite a few ways it wasn't something that he wanted. He wanted something, someone different. Someone like…Carol. She was clumsy, had no control of her emotions and half the time she was a pain in the ass to everyone around her but she wasn't like everyone else, She sure as hell cried a lot too which he could never get used to but somehow that didn't seem to matter. What exactly was going on in his head? He hadn't a fuckin clue.

He and Michonne carefully prowled the area around them, doing the same thing they had done before over and over again. They would find a small weak tree like the one earlier or low branches that were thin enough that her blade would go right through them. After awhile of this tedious work, Daryl slung his crossbow over his back and shoved his knife back in its holder. He heard the click of her katana being placed in its sheath.

He turned to face her; she had set much of the wood they had gathered on the top of the carcass, the rest was in a pile at her feet. With one arm, she carried a small load of branches and with the other she held two corners of the tarp together, to make a sort of carrier. Daryl nodded and did the same taking what was left of the branches and such and grabbing the other end of their makeshift carrier. The two of them hastily walked in the direction in which they came and back to the house.

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Back at the house, everyone was starting to settle in for the night. The day had long since passed and it was almost dark outside. Carol grew worried. He knew with the two of them out there they would be able to protect themselves but she found herself thinking that it was the same sort of situation that only happened one night ago

Glenn and the others had told the story of that day and how Daryl had spotted the large group of walkers. If he hadn't of noticed, all of them could be dead right now. She listened as he told the group about how many walkers there really were. Nearly three dozen! He had exclaimed, maybe even more. He told the tale putting a heroic light on Daryl and how he led them away from the rest of the group, protecting them.

She could see the smiles on their faces. Were they just enjoying the story or did it amuse them to think that someone like Daryl could actually be a hero. No matter what anyone said, he would always be a hero to her. He'd saved her so many times in their time together. From walkers, from grief, from herself. He was more of a hero to her then he would ever understand. She knew if she tried to tell him he would push her away even more and so she kept her mouth mostly shut admiring the knight in faded leather and angel wings from a distance.

There was a rap on the door and just like this morning there was a flurry of motion around her. Rick was the one to open the door to a sweating and tired looking Daryl followed by a stone faced Michonne.

"Sweet!" She heard Glenn cry out and she turned to stand to see what all the commotion was about. The two silent warriors dragged their carrier through the room and when they set it out in the middle she nearly gasped. They had brought back heaps of firewood; this would surely help them for days with the constant use of the fireplace. Underneath of all of that was the perfect body of a deer.

"You found this?" Andrea asked nearly stunned. "We were trying to find one all those days, we never came across anything"

"Was luck" Daryl replied. "There was a small herd of em but I only got the one. Res bolted before I could reload" He explained.

"It's perfect" Carol found herself saying. Everyone around her looked to her and she could feel her cheeks blushed. "We haven't venison in who knows how long" She spoke timidly. She eyed up the deer. "I know exactly what to make with this. For tomorrow's dinner of course" She spoke with a grin.

Everyone was happy with their answer and she watched as the men of the group nodded towards Daryl and Michonne while the women gave him smiles and thanks and lots of praise. She watched him drawback, uncomfortable with all the attention. She felt the need to make sure that he wasn't bothered anymore.

"Daryl?" She asked. He glanced towards her. He didn't need this right now.

"Will you take this outside and help me get it ready to cook?" She asked. She watched as relief came over his face and he nodded. He hefted the doe with ease and motioned for her to follow him out to the back porch.

Daryl had the carcass spread out on the back porch when Carol came out closing the screen door behind her. She winced as he took an axe to the doe's neck once, twice, three times before chopping through the bone. He set the head down on the step below him. He sat back from it for a moment. She watched as he mapped the body with his eyes planning out his cuts.

Before he was able to continue she handed him a cloth. His hands were covered in blood and he accepted it, wiping his hands clean. It was then when she noticed the angry wound opposite of the hand she'd bandaged for him only nights ago.

"You're hurt" She spoke quietly. He stopped and sighed.

"We been through this" He spoke "It ain't nothing"

"But this one is new. Did you get it last night?" She asked coming closer to him. She watched as he flinched away as she gingerly touched the rough skin of his injured hand. She knew he wasn't use to contact. She remembered that from the day that Andrea had shot him and he'd nearly risked his life for her little girl. She remembered that day so clearly. She had come to bring him dinner and as soon as she walked in he drew the blankets around his exposed upper torso. She knew why but she never said anything, even before he covered himself she was able to see them all.

When she had went to thank him for what he did for her little girl she leaned down to give a peck on his forehead and as soon as she got close to his face she noticed the tension in his muscles, the involuntary flinching. She noticed the signs immediately; they were no different from her own. The two of them were a lot more similar then she thought. They were both afraid of something, although she knew Daryl would die before admitting it and that was okay with her. She didn't need to him to feel like he needed to talk to her.

He found himself unable to control the flinching when she touched him. Everything in him screamed that this woman was so scared and powerless that she would never do a damn thing to hurt him but yet he couldn't stop himself. But she moved slowly, her touch was soft and her intentions were completely pure. He found himself actually enjoying the gentle poking of her fingers and softness of her skin.

"Let me get something for this" She whispered after a moment of examining it. He nodded and she stepped back into the house with purpose. It was hard for someone like him to admit that he needed help sometimes. That damn hand of his was bothering him quite a bit and she had been the only one to offer anything towards him. Maybe it was because everyone else didn't care. Or maybe it was because they knew that even thought they offered their help he would get angry at them and tell em to mind their own business.

Carol was different. He didn't mind when she took care of him like this. He'd always done everything for himself. He didn't need anyone to provide for him or take care of him that was not the way he wanted it to be. But yet here he was allowing her to play doctor.

When she came back, she was holding the same bottle she had the other night along with a clean white cloth that must have come from one of the bathrooms in the house. She knelt down to him and picked up his hand again, this time without flinching. He watched as a smile graced her face but she didn't say anything and went straight to work.

He watched her carefully, her eyes focused on his injured hand and her lips pulled back in that small smile. He realized that she was older than him and if this whole world hadn't gone to shit like this then maybe it wouldn't have shown as much for her. She looked tired and the lines on her face were more prominent from all the frowning and crying that she had done. He found that her age didn't matter to him, he never noticed it before really so why start now? Her face was pale with the exception of a few markings, faded bruises he guessed but her skin looked so smooth. He found himself wanting to reach out and touch her.

He was so focused on looking at her that he hadn't realized that she was finished with his hand. She must have turned to tell him that she was done because her face was near his own and he locked gazes with her. He found her eyes to be the best thing on her face, not that the rest had anything wrong with it but…those eyes. They were light blue and full of emotion. They were a gateway to her thoughts and he found that he could read everything about her just by looking.

"Daryl?" She spoke timidly. Her eyes broke their gaze first and he was grateful for it, he found himself unable to look away.

He looked confused and she wasn't sure why. Daryl was always on top of himself, never letting anything get to him but right now he truly looked puzzled. She could feel when his eyes were on her, she had gotten used to that feeling when she was with Ed. He never looked at anything else the whole time she was fixing up his hand and when she had turned to tell him she was done he was staring into her eyes. He'd never done anything like that before. She could feel the color that came to her cheeks.

Daryl was actually staring at her? Never would she thought that it was possible. But maybe the two of them were much closer then she thought. She grinned and before he managed to pick the skinning knife back up again in his better hand she found herself leaning against him. She pressed her side against feeling his warm skin against hers and rested her head on his shoulder. She felt his muscles go tense and stiffen under her. He was frozen like this for a few moments before she felt him relax.

He'd never let another person get this close to him and sure as hell never let anyone lean on him. He felt fear run through him. This was the first time a women had ever done something so casual and yet so…comforting. Something about her just leaning against him made the fear disappear. No one had ever managed to do that before but he found that he liked it.

She watched as he picked the knife back up, they didn't say a word to each other, she just watched him expertly skin the animal and separate the different sections of meat and inner organs into different piles. And then suddenly, she watched as a genuine smile graced his face. It was small but she found herself nearly crying out with joy when she saw it. That smile meant everything to her.


	5. Chapter 5

OMG last night's episode. I'm so happy that she's alive and although not well it looks like things will be okay. It made it even better that they had the scene right before it where he was so frustrated and upset about her disappearance and finding the knife. Wonder what's gonna happen now! Can only hope it's going to be something really good. I literally sat there during that scene saying oh my gosh over and over again. Sorry it took so long to update. After a long couple weeks at school I spent the weekend at my boyfriends and of course nothing got done.

I'm so glad that everyone is enjoying this. I put a lot of time into everything I write.

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It had been a few days since the last bit of action had gone on at the house. For once, everyone wasn't constantly living in fear. They had not had an incident in a while and a lot of things were looking up for the group. They had finally found a place where they were safe, somewhere they could really just stay in for awhile and not have to constantly sleep with one eye open although many still did.

It was mid afternoon and Carl who was bored with being stuffed inside stepped off the back porch and looked at the world around him. He carried a knife at his hip and at the moment he actually felt happy. It didn't seem so scary to him. He walked through the forest, gazing up at the trees. Most of them were starting to lose all their leaves, if they weren't already gone of course. The ground was covered in them and he felt the urge to want to jump in a huge pile of them.

He grinned. The thought of doing something fun, something that he remember from before this all happened excited him. With a grin on his face and energy flowing through him he worked on pushing, kicking and scraping leaves into a pile in front of him. They came together easy and he found himself laughing as he jumped into the pile. What fun! He giggled to himself and went to remake the pile when he heard something. Something bad. He'd heard that sound before so many times it scared him. It was that low, moaning choking sound that the walkers made when they got close.

Initially he was scared. They hadn't had a walker around here in days and suddenly he was going to run into one. But he knew he couldn't be like this. He was a man now and he had to protect everyone in the group. With a grim face he grabbed the knife from its sheath and held it out in front of him. He walked closer to the sound and eyed all directions. Nothing seemed to be coming at him but he swallowed hard as the sound got louder. He was close to it now he could tell; the air around him reeked of it. They smelled so terrible, like when he brought a baloney sandwich to his room in the middle of the night and forgot about it for weeks.

When he was close enough he took a deep breath and leapt out from behind the tree. He screamed when he saw them. Not one walker but two! They startled him and the knife fell to his side as he landed on his behind. He quickly grabbed it holding it out in front of him, ready to fight them off. But they were different and they didn't follow him. They didn't even try to come and get him. He noticed immediately that their arms had been cut off and they didn't have mouths anymore and they were chained to the tree. They were walkers, but yet he didn't feel afraid of them anymore, he almost wanted to point and laugh at them.

Suddenly there was hustle and bustle and he could hear his mom yelling for him. She was screaming out his name. There were heavy footsteps beside him and it seemed the entire group had come to see what happened. He did scream after all, people were bound to hear him. His father bolted in front of everyone else and ran past them with ease. Rick stopped in his tracks when he saw them and immediately went to pull his gun out aiming at the heads of the walkers.

"Don't shoot!" A voice called from behind. It was Andrea. She ran beside Rick and placed a hand on his arm. "Don't shoot" She spoke again heavily panting. Rick looked at her like she was crazy.

"They're walkers" Rick angrily gestured. "We kill walkers. This is not a discussion" He spoke cocking the gun.

Lori came and wrapped her arms around Carl muttering words of relief and encouragement to the boy. She was clearly more shaken then her son. The rest of the group had caught up to the worried parents at that time. They stood around and gawked at the two deformed walkers.

"These are different" Andrea tried to explain. She knew it was going to be hard to explain to the man. He'd been through so much.

"How could they possibly be different" Rick asked. He was clearly not happy with her. She was in fact defending the enemy even if they didn't know it. Andrea was about to say something when her voice rose above everyone's.

"They're mine" Michonne spoke striding out. The entire group turned to look at her. With the exception of Andrea and a stone faced Daryl, the group looked shocked. She was calm as she walked through the small crowd of people; she noticed the angry, shocked and disgusted looks on some of their faces. She was the outsider here, she was used to it. She could feel their eyes following her as she parted the crowd.

"Yours?" Rick asked the gun still pointed at the pair. "These walkers, these things that have been killing _**everybody**_ are yours?" He questioned trying to emphasize his point.

"They kept us safe" She spoke glancing towards Andrea who nodded back at her. "When in the forest, the other biters wouldn't notice us because we smelled like them"

Rick glanced at the two women and then to the walkers. They tried to stumble around to get to the group of people in front of them but the chain held steady. He thought about it. Really, the idea was no different from the one they'd had back in the city where he and Glenn covered themselves in the guts of Wayne Dunlap. If it hadn't been for Wayne, they'd most likely all be dead. They'd also been doing the same things themselves with the corpses of the people they'd found inside.

He tried to think of it the same way, that they were just camouflage, but these walkers were alive….well undead or whatever. They moved and even though their mouths had been cut off they could still scratch. They could still be a potential danger and that wasn't something he wanted to risk.

"They're still a danger" Rick spoke finally

"Not with mouths and arms they aren't" Michonne argued.

"They can still scratch" He growled. "Biting isn't the only way we turn. You should know that"

Michonne was silent and seemed to be thinking heavily about something. She eyed Rick and the rest of the group who watched wondering what was going to happen next. She drew her weapon and watched as some people backed up. She knew they were still afraid of her, but Andrea called these people family and she didn't want to have to leave Andrea. She made her decision and quickly and without hesitation she drew her sword and hacked off the hands of the walkers. They groaned in front of her and tried to get away from their assailant but the chain held them in placed and they went nowhere.

The rotting hands laid against the leaf covered ground and old blood leaked from the amputated limbs. She shook the blood off her katana and sheathed it. Rick held her gaze, there was such fire in her eyes.

"Harmless now" She spoke almost mocking him.

Rick had to agree with her. Without hands, mouths or arms they couldn't scratch, bite or try and grab them. They seemed so much different from the others ones. He still wasn't totally sure about this woman. Andrea seemed to trust her and a few of the other members of their group had started to warm up to her, but the possible danger was still there. She was ruthless and ferocious and damn was she quick. It was then that he noticed that his boy was walking over to the creatures.

"Carl…"Rick spoke trying to stop his son but the boy walked right up to them only inches away and nothing happened. They moved around restlessly and made some kind of noise but they never tried to go after him. He sighed and looked at Michonne, nodding to her.

"It's alright" Rick finally spoke. "As long as they stay there, everything will be alright" He turned to face the group around them.

"They aren't a danger and as much I hate to do it they'll stay around" He spoke with disgust in his voice. Who ever thought of keeping live walkers as pets? Apparently this strange women, but it seemed they had kept her and Andrea alive and thought he told himself that a person couldn't be attached to a rotting corpse, something about those two meant something to her.

The group started wandering away from the morning spectacle. Carl found himself still standing in front of the passive walkers. He'd even managed to find the courage to touch one of them before he felt his father's hand on his shoulders.

"Come on son" He spoke to him. Some people said that his father wasn't good for them, but they were wrong. He was the best and he was making sure that everyone was alright. He did what he could for everyone even though it could get him killed. His father had always been helping people and putting himself in danger, he told him when he was young that it's what cops did and he was proud to have a father like him. He listened and obeyed following him inside and sitting down on the floor in the main room to have some breakfast.

"Mmm Mmm" T-Dog groaned as he walked through the kitchen. "What is heavenly smell?" He asked trying to peak under the lid. Carol batted hand away quickly. He pulled it back with a frown.

"Dinner" Carol answered quickly. She walked to the fireplace and pulled the top off the pot and started tending to it. She raised the spoon to her lips and tasted deciding that it needed more salt. She tossed a little in, stirred it and then clamped the top back on.

"I can't wait till then" He spoke nearly drooling over the pot.

Carol grinned. Even she knew that out of all the people here that she was defiantly the best cook. Sure some of the others could do it, but it gave her confidence that these people, her family praised her on the cooking she did even when there wasn't much she could work with. It was hard planning meals with things that came from a can, but it was all they had. Even the addition of fresh meat from Daryl wasn't enough to take away that canned taste. Somehow she managed to make due and even made things taste pretty good. Tonight however was her favorite of all. It was defiantly going to be the best dinner she'd made so far. She knew everyone would like it and she was hoping a certain someone would like it a lot.

The thought of cooking made her happy. When she was married to Ed it was one of the only things that he ever said about her that was nice. But somehow it didn't count when he completely neglected her in every other way. Dinner still had hours and hours to cook however and she needed to make herself useful in others ways. She had to get some laundry done along with finally asking Daryl about the damn bow.

She decided to give that a try first. After the group had dispersed, she watched him make his way out front with his crossbow. Most likely to go and hunt she thought so she would need to catch him quick. As she left the house, she closed the door quietly behind her and latched it. To her surprise he hadn't even left yet. He was sitting on the bottom stair of the porch sharpening the knife he carried.

"What ya want?" He asked not bothering to look and see who it was.

"I wanted to ask you something" She spoke. It was kind creepy that she only had to walk outside and he knew that it was her, or at least she assumed he knew. There was something in his voice that was different then when he talked to other people.

"Go on then" He grunted

"When we first moved in, the guys found all those weapons." She paused and he stopped sharpening his knife. "I was wondering…would you be able to teach me?" She asked "I know some of the basics from watching television and you all" She rambled.

"'s lot different when you're actually shootin" He spoke gruffly

"I know that" She shot back angrily.

He set down the knife and turned to stand and face her. It seemed that she was actually somewhat angry. He'd never seen her like that before. Most of the time she was so docile and calm or she was sad. He wasn't sure how to react to it. His head told him to snap back at her, it's what he did with everyone else when they talked to him that way. But he didn't want to yell at her, not like he'd done before on the farm.

"I'll teach ya" he spoke finally. "Jus make sure ya pay close attention and do what I say"

The red in her face faded and she smiled. Damn women and their mood changes. It was hard enough living with all of them and their emotional flares and such. And Lori? Well she was like playing Russian roulette with all bullets and no blanks. He found himself really not being able to stand it sometimes and he wondered how the hell everyone else dealt with it.

"Go grab yur weapon" He motioned

"Now?" She asked

"Thought u wanted to learn" He growled his eyebrow's furrowing.

"I do. I didn't think we were going to right now. You looked like you were about to go hunting"

"I was and yur comin with me"

"But I'm terrible" She pleaded. "I'll scare everything away"

"Don't matter. Once you get sick of it I'll take ya back and go back out myself" He told her. "Best way you can learn is on the job" He spoke with a smirk across his face.

He seemed too sure of himself. She knew she was going to be terrible at this and yet he seemed to think it was a great idea to put her in the war when she hadn't gone through training yet. But she did as he said and went inside to fetch the weapon. It was leaning against the window, still untouched by everyone else. It was different from his, a regular bow. She could see the difference in that with this one she would have to pull on the string instead clicking a button.

It seemed much harder than his weapon but she wasn't going to complain. It was silent compared to the guns and she knew she didn't want to bring those into the equation although she figured that once she got the hang of this thing, shooting a gun would be no problem. She picked it up and held it in her hand. It was relatively light and made from a light wood that was almost white. She found it to be beautiful. Beautiful and so very deadly, just like him.

She grinned and blushed at the thought. What was she a teenager? For goodness sake she was forty years old. But she couldn't help it. Being married to Ed had stifled everything real about her. She liked it when all of the women gathered around the lake in the quarry and just swapped stories about their former lives. It was perfect, like they were camping. That is until Ed showed up. Then instead of seeing a woman who was still prime even at her age they saw the pathetic coward that she was.

She followed Ed without hesitation and begged the other women to let her alone and to not prod Ed anymore. She didn't want him to hurt her and she didn't want to be hurt by his hand anymore. She was tired of the abuse but she was powerless against him to stop it. She knew what they all thought about her. She was a poor abuse victim and they were right. That's all she would ever be. Ever since Ed she was a broken, cowardly weak woman.

That is why she needed this bow. She needed to show not only them, but herself that she could be someone other than that spineless woman at the quarry. She didn't want to be this way anymore and that is why she needed Daryl Dixon. She felt herself blush again. Needing him. It sounded foreign to her but it never sounded wrong. She shook the thought away, now was not the time, especially when she was going to be around him for a while. She grabbed a few arrows from the rack and headed back outside. Daryl was in the same spot as she left him still sharpening his knife. She never wanted to be on the other side of that thing that was for sure. It could probably cut her in half with as much attention as he paid to it.

"Was wonderin if ya bailed on me" He spoke snapping out of her thoughts.

"No I just…" She trailed off. What was she thinking? He didn't wanna hear what she had to say. He stared at her waiting for the rest of the sentence. "Nevermind" She spoke hesitantly.

"Yur a strange one woman" He spoke standing up. "Ca'mon" He said beckoning her to follow him. They stepped down off the porch and he looked both ways down the road. The sun was high and the trees casted a shadow over everything around them.

"We'll head up that way" He spoke pointing in the direction from which they arrived to the house.

"Afraid to go back near the town?" She asked out of curiosity. He whirled around and met her eyes with an intense angry gaze.

"I Aint 'fraid of Nuthin" He hissed. "I don't have to take ya out" He continued. "I'd do better on ma own anyways"

She stepped back and took her eyes off his. He was right of course. How could she have been so stupid asking a dumb question like that?

"Sorry" She whispered.

He stood there was a sneer on his face staring at her before turning away grunting. He didn't turn back around, which was a good sign. She followed him wearily knowing that he was already angry with her. She didn't say anything else as she followed him quietly up the road and through the outer part of the forest. She held the weapon to her chest closely. He was a few feet in front of her. His crossbow was loaded but down by his side.

He was such a confusing man. Most of the time he growled at her, put her down and pretty much made her feel like a child. He could be so terrifying and mean towards her. But there were those rare moments where she saw the other side of him, like a couple nights ago on the porch where he was skinning the deer. She was genuinely confused about why he acted that way. She didn't cause him that much trouble did she? She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't notice that he had stopped. She collided with his back, her head between his narrow shoulders.

She stepped back from him and stared at the ground. This was it. Now she was really going to get it. He was already angry with her; there was no telling what he was going to do now. She didn't know if she could take him blowing up at her again. She set the bow down next to her as he turned around to face her.

As soon as his eyes met hers she felt herself flinch back away from him. It was just like the time at the farm. He'd been so angry with that she swore he was going to backslap her. When she didn't feel his hand collide with her cheek she opened her eyes to look at him. He didn't have that look on his face anymore. She saw all of the anger was gone. He looked….sad almost.

"Hey now" He mumbled. "I thought I tol ya I wouldn't hit ya" He spoke softly. "Jus cause I got angry don't mean ya deserve ta get hit. I ain't like that bastard husband a'yurs"

He watched as the first few tears came to her face. Dammit he wasn't sure how to react in this situation. He'd never, not once tried to comfort another human being. He didn't know how. He was confused by all of this emotional crap. But she didn't break down on him. He watched her wipe away the tears and stand tall. She gave him a smile and it felt like his heart stammered for a second. It felt weird, like nothing he'd ever felt before and he wasn't sure how to really handle it.

But something within him made him move and reach out and touch her cheek. He carefully wiped away the water stain coming from her light blue eye and brushed it away with the pad of his thumb. He listened to the change in her breathing and noticed she didn't seem to be relaxing. Wasn't this kind of thing supposed to?

"'s okay" He murmured. His hand pulled away and he grabbed the bow which she had dropped. Figures she wanted to learn on a bow. With the way she was following him around all the time he'd be surprised if it was something other one.

"Still wanna learn?" He asked her. She nodded.

"We'll c'mon then" He beckoned.

She followed him closely staring at the wings on his back. She knew the man was no angel. He was far from perfect and she felt like she would never be as close to him as she really wanted but that was the thing. She wanted to be close to him. She didn't want to have to go back to being alone and sad all the time and although Daryl was the most unlikely person to ever pay her any attention, he was the absolute kindest person to her.

She'd never really felt anything like the way she did around Daryl. Sure he could be a real ass, but somehow that side of him didn't bother her anymore. It was part of who he was and she found herself in love with it. She felt like that teenage girl who wanted the bad boy in school who had a cool car and skipped class, only this boy was a man and he had a cool bike and kicked zombie ass.

She had started to cry and instead of pushing her away and getting angrier with her, he made her feel better and that was something that Ed had never done. He had always left her to wallow in her despair. When Sophia had gone missing, she knew everyone felt sorry for her and pitied her, but Daryl didn't. He tried with everything he had to find her and even though things didn't turn out well for she still felt more grateful to him than anyone else.

She looked at the wings on his back and smiled. She knew she was probably pushing it, the Dixon boy surely had enough emotional crap to deal with today, but she did it anyway. She grabbed his free hand just by the fingertips and held on. He tensed up, but he never pulled away from it. He just kept walking, allowing her to hold onto him.

DxC DxC DxC DxC DxC DxC

The two of them trekked out further into the woods near the house. Daryl was careful and ever alert as they wandered away from the safety of the house and the many people with guns that protected it. He did his best along the way to try and teach Carol that not only did she have to be a good shot but she had to keep quiet. He instructed her how to walk so that they made the least possible amount of noise.

It wasn't that hard considering she was such a delicate person to start with. She was naturally cautious and weary of everything around her and it reflected in her near silent footsteps. The thought made him grin; maybe this wasn't a complete lost cause. Although comparing walking stealthily and hitting your target was like comparing apples and a tire, they weren't even closely related.

They wandered far enough away to where he could no longer hear the sounds coming from the house. It was quiet and peaceful, which means hopefully the wildlife around wasn't scared into hiding. He found his presumption correct when he saw a few squirrels skittering across the ground and running up trees.

"Here's good" He spoke quietly. She looked around her. The woods seemed more alive than they did closer to the house, she could see the amount of wildlife wandering running up trees and weaving through the branches of the forest. Of course the only things that she could see were small animals, things that she knew she had no hope of hitting. Daryl was crazy if he thought that this method of taking her out with no practice was going to help. She knew exactly how it was going to go. She was going to get frustrated very fast because of her lack of skill and he was just going to get angry with her and wander away.

"Take up the bow" He commanded.

She frowned but held it like she had seen people on TV do it before. Something about it felt wrong however; maybe it was just her inexperience with weapons in general.

"Nah not like that" He corrected. He walked over to her. "Yur holdin it too high. And you gotta change the way yur standin" He pressed down her arm adjusting the weapons height and then adjusted her arms and elbows. She could feel heat rising to her cheeks. Other than that time he'd held her back from running to her walker daughter this was the most he'd really touched her. She found herself wanting more than just a few touches on her arm.

She shook the thought away. What the hell was she thinking? She knew that she had feelings toward the man but she suprised herself when she found them to be feelings beyond just care and love. Even so she listened carefully to what he was telling her and practiced lowering the stance and raising it again. Each time, he would fix her stance and make necessary adjustments. It seemed that each time she found a new problem that he had to fix. Her elbows were too high, he legs were too far apart, and she wasn't aiming the right way.

"Yur not getting it" He growled, clearly getting frustrated. "All ya gotta do is listen to what I'm sayin but ya can't seem to do that right"

She couldn't blame him; she just couldn't seem to focus on the task at hand. She was too busy thinking about other things. She found herself watching him when he wasn't trying to help her.

"Try again" He mumbled. He watched as this time when she raised the bow and fell into stance that she had it correct. A smile came across his face. He knew that she would be able to get it; she just had to work at it.

"Now all ya gotta do is practice shooting" He spoke. He looked around him. It would be easier if she had some kind of slow moving target or one that was stationary. The likelihood that an animal was going to stay still long enough for her to aim and then shoot was slim but decided to try anyways. He searched the forest floor and signaled for her to get down. She immediately did what she was told and held the bow to her side.

Her eyes followed his pointed figure towards a stationary target. It was a group of little forest quails. They were standing in a group in the middle of the forest floor. None of them seemed to notice their presence at the moment. She nodded to him and from a crouching position she drew the bow. Her hands were shaking. What if she missed? Daryl was just going to get angry from scaring everything away. She had to make this shot.

She pulled back on the drawstring but found it to be a lot harder then it seemed. The released the string but instead of the arrow flying towards its target it dropped to the ground in front of her. She looked at the fallen arrow with despair noticing that the group of quails hadn't noticed yet. She sighed in relief and looked to Daryl who mentioned for her to reload.

She was going to get it this time. She grabbed another arrow from the quiver and knocked it into place. Now that she knew it was going to require more strength she knew what she had to do. She pulled back the string with more force this time and aimed towards one of the larger birds of the group. When she thought she had it right she released the arrow. It flew more than the first arrow but apparently she still did not do it the right way. It flew a couple feet but dropped on the ground. The small birds, startled by the new sound ran away quickly.

Daryl sighed. He knew that she hadn't had any experience with this kind of thing so her first attempt was relatively good. She was learning that it required much more force than most people thought. Shed learned that from her first arrow. She was a smart woman, emotional as hell but she was smart. He crawled over to keeping his eyes forward.

"Good first try" He mumbled

"I didn't even get close to hitting it" She frowned

"Nah. But after the first shot I saw ya thinking and knew ya realized ya needed to be more aggressive with it"

She couldn't tell if she was blushing but it sure as hell felt like it. Had Daryl actually just given her a compliment? That was strange of him.

"Were just gonna walk ta someplace different and ya can try again" He spoke and crept along the forest floor. She watched and listened as he moved with such stealth and grace and hardly made a sound. It was so like him and she loved it about him. She was also sure glad that he was on their side.

He was vicious and accurate and if anyone got in his way then they'd have hell to pay. He protected this group with his life and always made sure that everyone was absolutely safe. If he had been on a different side, like his brothers, she wasn't sure if they'd even be alive at this point. It was scary to think that a person could be so dangerous yet as caring as he was about this group. She knew that he would never want to be assimilated with the word but it was true. The most interesting thing about him was how quiet he was. Half of the time he crept up on the rest of the group and no one even noticed till he was breathing down your neck. He was efficient and he was absolutely deadly.

Ordinarily, something like that would scare her. Hell, her own husband was vicious like him and he'd shown her more than once that he could be very dangerous. Ed had scared the hell of her, but Daryl was different. She was not afraid of the monster that lurked within the human shell, she was attracted to him. She realized that now. Not only did she wish to be around him every second of every day, not only did she care about him to the point where this was maybe something more but every time she saw him her body reacted.

It was certainly strange to be sexually attracted to someone after the feeling had been gone for so long. There was no doubting that after the first year or so with Ed that the feelings had to be suppressed. Ed was dominant and she knew that for the rest of the life she would ne that way. She didn't expect herself to ever feel such things after the way that Ed had treated her. But here she was sneaking glances of him every time he looked away.

"Ca'mon" he motioned pointing in a different direction away from the house. She nodded and followed the man's lead.

DxC DxC DxC DxC DxC DxC

Hours later, when the light outside had started to fade and dark was nearly there the pair returned to the porch of the house. Carol grinned as she held a single quail by its feet. She was proud of herself. She'd only gotten it because of Daryl, but she still felt like it was all her own and that she was finally learning to do something to help the group. Now she could not only cook but hunt their food.

Although she was upset that she had only managed to get one, the hand on her shoulder made everything better. She didn't need to look at him to know that he was in a good mood about it too.

"Dinner should be almost ready" She spoke as she opened the door. Daryl grunted in reply and followed her in. The house was warm and he felt the heat from the fire warm him down to the bones. He rolled his shoulders, aching with pain from having to use the bow today. It had been such a long time since he used an old fashion one. It was warm and the house smelled good. Dinner. Carol said earlier she was happy with whatever it was that she had made today and T had said something in the morning about it smelling good.

The scent was overwhelmingly good. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been impatient for a dinner.

The group inside was spread out around the main room. They were talking and some were laughing.

"Welcome home" Many of them greeted. Family. That's what these people were now. They noticed when he came home and they worried when he didn't. They listened to him when he spoke and had ideas and respected him for the position he had in this group. This was his life now and for once he was content with that.

He set his now down next to the door next to Carol's bow. He took off the poncho, already too warm from the fire. He watched Carol flock to the other women holding her prize high in her hand laughing and carrying on with them. Sure he'd really done most of the work. He'd aimed it for her and drew back the string. She'd only been a puppet really, but she was so happy with it and he found that he didn't want to upset her about it.

"Come on. I can't wait anymore" T shouted grabbing onto Carol's arm. "You gotta let us eat now!"

"Alright, Alright!" She laughed with a huge grin on her face. She walked over to the fireplace and with the help of Rick pulled the heavy put from above the fire and carried it into the kitchen. Suddenly everyone was standing up and following her. She set to getting the bowls and silverware out. Most of the group was lining up hungrily eyeing the pot on the stove. She was beaming; they all seemed so happy right now.

"Is that stew?" Andrea's voice spoke and Carol could see her mouth watering

"Venison stew" She said with a smile and began ladling portions into everyone's bowls. They took it quickly along with small pieces of bread and rushed around. She watched as the family around her shoveled the hot food into their face and made happy moaning sounds. The filed in one by one each happy to take their meal. Even Michonne, who seemed to always be completely emotionless, had a smile across her face. The mysterious women nodded and muttered a small thank you as she went to go sit with everyone else.

She looked into the pot; most of it had already been served. There was enough for a few more bowls of course. She noticed however there was one person who hadn't come to get their fill. She looked around and smiled when she found him walking over to her. She set to pouring him a bowlful. She noticed the eager look on his face, it was so unlike him.

When she handed him the bowl he gratefully took it along with a crusty piece of bread. He walked around the corner to look at the rest of the group. Everyone was there and there wasn't enough room for him so he wandered back into the kitchen and watched as she poured herself a bowl finally. She idly dripped a spoon in the stew with her spoon and blew on it. He could see the steam coming of it and was suddenly more aware of the warm bowl that rested in his hands.

As he put the first spoonful of stew to his mouth he found himself nearly moaning. It had been a damn long time since he'd ever tasted something this good. Probably since his mother had killed herself all those years ago. His father and brother couldn't cook for shit when they weren't drinking beer for dinner. Somehow she had managed to take canned vegetables' and potatoes and slow cooked them all day with the deer. It was thick and hearty and the venison fell apart in his mouth.

"Goddamn" He groaned and she glanced over to him. He was leaning back against the counter and she could have sworn that he had his head thrown back. His eyes met hers then and she could feel the blush coming to her face. She wanted to look away from him but she found that she couldn't.

"You sure can cook woman" He spoke, pure satisfaction lacing his voice. "Haven't had a meal this good since I was a boy"

"I'm glad you like it" She replied softly "I thought you might. It's why I made it after all" She admitted, her eyes dropping his gaze as she went to tidy up something that wasn't really there.

He knew what she way saying and he wasn't sure how to react to it. The meal that she had put so much though into was made for him because she knew he'd like it? These feelings that he had for the woman, they weren't so small anymore. Sure the whole family looked out for each other, but it seemed that she wanted to take extra care of him.

He brought another spoonful to his mouth and savored it. Everything about it was so perfect and he found himself getting jealous when other members of the group came to the kitchen to get more. He watched as they poured more into their bowls and the smiles across their faces. Didn't they know that she made this for him? He watched as Carol grabbed a new clean bowl and poured some in it. She set it aside on the counter behind her and started chatting to Carl who'd come up with his mom.

The spoon scraped against the empty bowl and he found himself upset. He sighed unhappily but brought the bowl over to the sink. Beth and Lori had already finished their meals and started working on the pile of dishes that had accumulated. Much of the group had come over to Carol and were smiling and patting her on the back and the shoulders. She seemed so happy and despite the fact that he was angry there wasn't enough stew he found himself happy too.

He placed his bowl in the pile along with the others and brushed past everyone crowded around Carol. He wanted to say more to her, but there were too many people around and although he was starting to really think about and like the feelings he had for the woman he didn't want everyone else to know about it yet. The rest of the evening was quiet and eventually everyone retired to their respected rooms.

Carol curled up in her blankets and listened to the soft sound of T-Dog snoring next her to. She was happy with herself. For once she really did something for this group. Everyone was so happy around meal time. It didn't even seem like they were in the middle of the woods as a zombie apocalypse was going on. They were just a bunch of people who came together for a good meal, one that she prepared. And of all the attention that she gotten that night, none was more welcome then Daryl. She had been aiming to please him, to show him that she wasn't useless in this group and to show him that she cared for him. He'd loved her meal.

She wasn't stupid; she was starting to see the signs coming from him. This wasn't something that was just being imagined anymore, there was something defiantly there. She'd known there was something there a while ago, but it was so much more real now. She laid there on her back listening to the muffled sounds of his movement. She could see his shadow moving with him as he paced back and forth looking out the window and walking around in circles.

She wanted to get up and go to him and found herself on her feet already. She looked down to a sleeping T-Dog. She could not wake the man up for fear of an unwanted scene. She made her way into the kitchen and leaned against the counter suddenly paralyzed with fear. It was risky to go in there and try and talk to him, she didn't know how he was going to react and she found herself unable to move. She was surprised that the man hadn't noticed that she'd come in here, was he was that distracted? He would sit on the arm of the couch for a few seconds biting at the end of his thumb before getting up restlessly. It seemed off that he would be pacing like that, like something was bothering him. But maybe this how he was. There was no one there to watch him, at least no one that he knew about and so maybe this was his time to just be himself. Could it be that Daryl was actually worried? Scared about something?

Finally he sat down on the arm of the couch and let out a long sigh. He stared out towards the window, never moving. Was he thinking deeply about something? Her trails of thoughts were broken as he once again stood. This time however he didn't start pacing. Her heart began to race when the hunter slipped off his jacket with the angel wings. He set it down over the back of the couch and started to unbutton his flannel shirt.

What the hell did she think she was doing? She was defiantly invading his private time by watching him like this but she couldn't pull her eyes away. The lighting was dim, shadows dancing around the room as the fire slowly burned. She watched as the muscles of his back and arms contracted and moved underneath his tight skin as he removed his shirt. He set it down on top of his jacket and rolled his shoulders.

Dear god did the sight of him brought forgotten feelings and sensations back to her. So long had it been since she'd felt the tingling of desire flow through her body and down to her lower extremities. This man was completely different from Ed. His life in the woods suited him and gave him the muscles and lean body that he needed for hunting and tracking down his kills. Ed spent his days drinking and sitting around accumulating so much unwanted body fat. As their marriage dragged on she found herself completely un attracted to him anymore. That didn't matter of course though, when he wanted something from her he got it. If he didn't well then she'd been putting on more make up the next day to cover up her defiance. Eventually she'd learned that just taking it was the best way to go.

The thoughts of that man on top of her were enough to make her want to vomit. But then she looked at Daryl and felt her body flush and her heart race. The thought shocked and embarrassed her, but she found herself wanting to be underneath him and all that muscle. She knew he would be powerful, it might even hurt but at the moment she didn't seem to care. The raw emotions of desire and lust were starting to course through her as she watched him pad across the floor in front of the fireplace. Maybe it would be more fitting in this world to be pressed up against a tree then on the ground. The thought made her clench her thighs together and stifle the noise in the back of her throat.

She ducked quickly as he turned around to look in her direction. The last thing she needed was to get caught. His arms were crossed tightly over his chest as he turned to eye the seemingly empty kitchen. She wondered if he was confused or maybe he was heading this way right now, after all he was taught to trust his hunter instincts. Were they telling him about the prey that was in the kitchen right now? She waited a few minutes but he never came over. Slowly she raised her head and nearly sighed in relief when she found him facing the fireplace again. She took the oppertunity to quickly and quietly sneak back to the room. Her covers were messy but she slipped underneath them and laid on her back staring at the ceiling.

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He sat in front of the fire place staring into the dancing flames. He basked in its heat, grateful just to be warm after so many cold nights on the open road before. It was getting late, though he wasn't sure what time it was anymore, not like the clocks still worked. Everyone else was asleep. There were no footsteps above him and he could hear two sets of easy breathing from the room just down the hall. His hearting was sharp and he never missed even the slightest sounds.

The muscles in his arms ached constantly from all the work that he did around the house. Not to mention that the muscles of his arms were killing him from having to pull his entire weight up onto that tree branch. Then adding in the strain of pulling on the old bow, it was enough to make any many want to lie down and call it quits. But he could never do that, not when there were too many people that he cared about to protect.

He knew he would be up for a while. Sleep was something that never came easy to him if he even slept at all that hadn't changed since the apocalypse. It was hard to constantly be on the run, first from his father and brother and then from walkers. He wasn't surprised at all when he'd come to find that he could stay awake for more than 24 hours and still be fully functional. In times like these when everyone was asleep he found himself able to pace around the room. At this hour of the night he was able to do whatever he wanted and not get shit about it from the rest of the team. He knew that if some of the others knew that he paced around like a worrying little girl they'd know that maybe he wasn't as strong as they thought he was and whether he liked it or not, he liked the image that he had with this group as the cold hard protector.

He padded lightly back and forth across the room listening to the sound of the fire crackling and his own thoughts. That stew that she made, well it was one of the first things in a long time that made him genuinely happy. There wasn't much to look forward to in this god forsaken world. He thought it would have been him and his brute of a brother until the end and that would be the rest of his life. Even when this whole mess had started his brother still made it a point to beat on him and cause him physical pain. There were plenty of new scars to go with the rest of him that littered his body.

He found happiness in the group and mostly through Carol and her little girl. He'd never interacted much with other people, other kids. Hell when he first started talking to them he wasn't sure how to deal with the kid but she grew on him and losing her was devastating. Her mom lived on though and now they seemed to be getting closer. He'd never been this close with anyone, not even his mother who'd been the only person to show him any kindness in his life before. But here she was making sure that he was clean and fed. And while that meal was for everyone, she'd said it herself that she'd cooked it with him in mind.

She was an interesting woman that Carol and he never expected to have the feelings for her that he was having now. By all his standards she wasn't exactly the type that he expected to be having feelings for. Not that he expected that he'd ever have a type or have feelings for anyone like this but she'd changed that. She was delicate but when she wanted to be she could be full of fire. She'd really fallen on some dark times, living with her husband, losing him and then losing her only child but yet she pushed through them and he liked to think that he was the one who really helped her.

As these thoughts rolled through his head he noticed the change in the air around him. There were still no movements from upstairs but the breathing pattern from the room close to him was different. The breathing of one of them changed and he knew that whoever it was they were awake. He waited for a confrontation and started to reach for his clothes. With the exception of Hershel and his family and of course Carol the secrets imbedded into his skin were still his own and he didn't plan on that changing anytime soon. He went to grab his clothes still waiting for someone to come in. No one ever did however. He turned around and looked into the dark kitchen. The light from the fire made shadows dance around the kitchen and noticed in the back corner of it an odd shape. There didn't seem to be anything on the counter that would cause that and it was then he knew that someone was in there.

It couldn't be anyone from upstairs; he would have heard the creaking wood above him and from the stairs down the hall. It also couldn't have been someone as large as T-Dog. Carol. What was she doing watching him like that? And how long exactly had she been there. It wasn't as though he had anything to hide with her but he was confused as to why she would sneak around in the shadows like she was. But he let it go. She clearly didn't want to get caught and so he sat back on the arm of the chair and waited a while before getting up again. The shadow was gone, she'd retreated back to the room and he could hear her breathing. She still wasn't asleep and what was different now was her breathing was much more rapid than it had been before. He concluded that it was because she was afraid of getting caught and stared out through the window.

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When she woke up the next morning, much of the group had already been up and standing around. There wasn't a whole lot to do and she feared that many people would start to go crazy within the confined space with nothing to do. She folded up her bedding, allowing for extra space in the room and set it in the corner.

She could smell that breakfast had already been made, by the looks of it oatmeal again. Not that she didn't like it, but she was getting a little tired of it. What she wouldn't give for a nice veggie omelet with a side of turkey bacon. Yum. Daryl was missing of course, out hunting or gathering some supplies she guessed. No one else seemed to be missing so he was alone again.

It wasn't until late afternoon close to dinner time that he had returned. She was starting to worry when it got that late, afraid that he'd actually known that she was there last night watching him and was angry with her. But then he shuffled into the house with a string of small rodents. She feared that each time he went out he got animals that were smaller and smaller. It seemed it was taking twice as much food to feed the amount of people they had here, especially now that Lori was pregnant and needed to be eating for two for the sake of her child.

He set down his bow by the side of the door and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. The cold was starting to affect even Daryl. After he set down his gear he retrieved his skinning knife from his pile of things along with the pan and cloth that had been deemed for his use when preparing their dinner. He was in and out of the house in seconds, already set to another task. She felt bad for him. He put so much effort into doing all this work for these people. She knew that he did not like to be praised and that he was good at what he did but even Daryl deserved praise once and a while.

Everyone was crowded in the main room, which made her task much harder then she wanted to be. Last night, she was able to save a single bowl of the delicious stew and stuff it away in the back of the cupboard where she thought no one would think to look. She retrieved it with a smile. The rest of the group would probably be angry with her and fight over the bowl had they known that she kept some for him, but he deserved it more than anyone.

So carefully she waited to tell everyone was away from the kitchen when she retrieved it. It would have to be cold, but she hoped that he would enjoy it all the same. The hard part would be sneaking it outside. She thought he plan to be clever really. She would simply grab his poncho that was sitting by the door on the way out and cover the bowl so no one would see. They wouldn't question her going out to see him because many people, Lori in particular seemed to think that there was something going on between the two of them. While she was kind of right, she didn't know the whole story exactly.

So she snuck outside, the eyes of Lori were on her the whole time and that smile that she gave her said everything. The door to the house closed quietly behind her and she immediately met Daryl's gaze.

"I don't need it" He immediately spoke gesturing to the poncho. "It'll only get in the way"

"I didn't come out here to bring this to you" She spoke quietly.

"Then what the hell ya doin out here? I'm almos' done then ya can have em to cook" He watched her shake her head as she retrieved something from underneath the cloth. A bowl?

"I brought this out for you. The others would kill me if they knew that there was still some left and I didn't give any to them" She explained and offered him the bowl.

He took it, confused at first but once he looked into it happiness filled him.

"Ya saved some?" He questioned. He immediately dropped the skinning knife, pretty much done with his work already and wiped his bloody hands on the cloth beside him.

"Sorry it's cold" She replied.

He shook his head. Who the fuck cared if it was cold right now? She'd gone out of her way to make sure that she saved a second bowl for him. Damn the woman, when it came to her he knew he was falling for her fast.

She watched as he took spoonful after spoonful, savoring each and every bite. She laughed as he nearly starting licking the bowl for anything left at the bottom. He sighed in such contentment when he set the bowl down on the ground. He met her gaze and the look he gave her sent shivers down her spine. Those steel eyes said everything about the way he was feeling and she could feel the result of it throughout her body. Her heart raced as he moved his things aside on the bench and gestured for her to come sit down beside him.

She was afraid she was going to trip on her way over. This was like being asked to dance by the most popular kid in class at the most important dance in high school. She could feel her body start to shake. She sat down next to him, nearly shuddering in anticipation. For a moment nothing happened and then she felt an arm wrap around her shoulders.

He could feel her tense up under him and wondered if his sudden advance was unwelcomed. But she didn't try and fight him off; she actually seemed to be content with it. This whole thing with the new feelings and physical attraction was new to him and wasn't sure how to go about it in a way that was deemed right. Hell he'd never really had a girlfriend or anything like that and he certainly couldn't remember the last time he'd really been close to a woman. At the same time all of the fear resonated through his body, happiness along with these new feelings of physical wanting…for her were there. He could feel it and it scared him.

His arm was comforting around her and she signed happily and leaned against him. His reaction was the same, he tensed when anyone tried to touch him, and it was natural for people like them to be weary of the people around them. And so it was completely unexpected when he felt his breath against her ear.

"Thank you" He whispered against her ear. His voice was low and husky and she shivered against him. His lips lingered near her ear and she felt the side of his leg pressed against her. She'd never felt this aroused before. She'd never felt anything even remotely close to this when she was with her husband. It seemed the hunter had much more of an effect on her then she ever imagined.

She nodded to him and he watched as something about her changed. He heard her breathing change, like how it was last night. It quick and harsh and sounded like she was trying to breath after running a long time. Her face was flushed and her ear was hot and red. He watched as she squirmed next to him and her thighs came together tightly. He wasn't exactly sure of her behavior only that he liked it. She'd never reacted this way when he'd thanked her the one or two times before so why was now different.

It was strange to see her like this but he found that he enjoyed it. He enjoyed it more when he finally realized after much thought that it was because of him that she was this way. He decided to try something. His fingers that rested on her shoulder gently needed into the skin and bone that was there. She pressed closer against him in reaction. That's what it was. He concluded that from the one or two time that he had managed to be alone with a woman that she was taking pleasure in his touch. The thought raced through his head and found himself excited but scared. He now realized that because of him her body was reacting in a way that told him that it was more about being just close friends.

The thought scared him. He knew right away that there was no way that he would be able to give her exactly what she wanted. He had no idea how to go about any of it and he certainly didn't want to make a fool of himself. Fear also came over him when realized that Carol wasn't the only one with these feelings.


	6. Chapter 6

I apologize for the delay in the new chapter. Things are pretty hectic here. Its been pretty stressful with all my exams and now its finals week so I've been really busy with that. Also I had a major case of writers block and just couldn't get into it the way I wanted to. Thank goodness for Netflix and torrents so I can get back into a Walking Dead/Caryl mood! Can't wait for the New Years Eve/Day WD marathon. Planning on watching it with my little sister who just started watching it a couple weeks ago. She's already in love with Caryl. Hell yeah.

I don't know how long it will be until the next chapter. I have some of it sort of planned out for the next few but I also want to start working on the concept for my next fic and I also have another ongoing fic that I want to update. If I don't get anything new up before the holidays well then Happy Holidays!

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The next morning came quickly and the survivors crowded around the main room eating their morning serving of breakfast as they day was just beginning. Rick and a few of the men had gone out already and moved the cars around to the side and back of the house. He'd said that it would be safer if they weren't out front and in the open where anyone could see them. And in these times, who knew what was coming next but one thing always seemed clear, people stuck to their rituals. And one ritual that never seemed to be forgotten even when the world had seemed to come to an end?

"Time to get the laundry done" Carol announced patting Beth and Lori on the shoulder. It seemed like such a mundane chore but Carol found it sort of relaxing. It was something that didn't change since these dark times fell upon them and she actually found herself looking forward to the days that the women would get together and do something like this together. The other two set off, grabbing the laundry from their rooms and from their families. Carol would do her laundry of course as well as Theodore's since he was in the same room as her and she elected herself to be able to do Daryl's.

The man set fire to her thoughts every time she thought about him. She knew the feelings for him weren't simply platonic anymore there was no denying that. She wasn't sure how to react to them though, it seemed very alien. It had been so long since she'd had these feelings. Sure they were there a little when she was first with Ed but as the years went on? Hell, forget about that. Daryl was different. He was young, vibrant and that body of his was enough to put any man to shame. She did everything she could to be near him at almost every instance of the day. She still left him his morning hours of hunting alone so that he had some peace and quiet but other than that she didn't want to leave his side. She felt like his shadow and she wondered if he ever got tired of it, but he never seemed to say anything.

Right now he was sat on the edge of the couch just watching everyone go about their daily lives. He didn't seem interested but his eyes were ever watching taking in every little detail about the people around him were doing. He'd come a long way since the first time she'd met him. Back then, he was just a loud mouth redneck who'd lost his brother shouting at everyone and threatening to kill them. Now he was a real part of their family.

"Hey" She mumbled. He regarded her presence with a nod.

"It's laundry day. I need your clothes" She motioned

"Ain't much to wash"

"What about what you've got on. You've been wearing those for over a week now" She spoke with mild disgust in her voice.

"Don't have much choice. Don't have much else" he replied. He was right though, he knew they were dirty and that he probably smelled worse than one of the walking dead.

"How about you change into something else and I'll wash them for you alright?" She asked politely. She knew that she was never going to get anywhere with him, the man was as stubborn as all hell.

He looked around the room. There were people everywhere. Sure these were the people he cared about, but he certainly didn't want them seeing him. He didn't have any privacy in this house, not when there were a dozen people trying to fit into this tiny two floored home. He glanced at her and underneath the scorn in his steel eyes there was a look of uncomfort. Was it because he was modest? She highly doubted that, he certainly didn't care what people thought about him when it came to his looks.

The thought dawned on her almost immediately after the last one had left her mind. It was because of his scars. She'd seen them before, back on the farm. He'd tried to cover them up before she'd come in the room but he wasn't fooling her. She could see the angry marks all across his back and somehow she knew that it wasn't just his back that was covered with them. She frowned and placed a hand upon his shoulder.

"I'll get some privacy" She spoke softly before grabbing the makeshift basket she was using to carry clothes in and hurried off upstairs.

He watched her wander off glancing at her as she walked away from him. He'd never thought in all of his days that he'd be so damn attracted to the women in front of him. But here he was staring at her ass while she walked away like she was some young thing. And that was the thing. She was defiantly older than him and he'd never thought he'd be so attracted to a woman who wasn't like the women Merle had brought home. They were always so buxom and blonde and didn't seem to have much of a brain. Hell they were probably all jailbail, too high to realize that being with his brother was dangerous.

Who was he kidding though? That was his brother and he'd come to realize after he'd disappeared that he wasn't like his brother at all. They were two different people. How could he he'd even found a type when Merle did all the deciding? Hell he was never really interested. His only thoughts were huntin and how to stay out of the way of Merle and his Pa. So when the thought came to him that maybe Carol was exactly his type, he didn't mind it, in fact, embraced the idea because something about it seemed right. As he came up the main platform of the steps he noticed the only person in the hallway was the farmers youngest daughter. The young girl's eyes met his for a moment before she flushed and made a quick exit down the stairs. He scoffed inwardly; he certainly wasn't used to this.

He quickly noticed the only open door was that of the master bedroom. The other room, which they had found the secret stash in, was closed and he presumed locked. He hadn't seen Andrea or Michonne and assumed that the two of them were in there. Those two were something else he didn't quite understand. Rick had seemed to take a liking to the ebony women regardless of the fact that she'd only been with them a few days and they knew hardly anything about her. But he was asking her to go with him on surveillance and silently she always came with him.

Even though he was terrible with interacting with other people, his intuitions about them were usually never wrong. She didn't seem to want to cause any harm to the group and especially to Andrea. Although truth be told he still didn't understand the relationship between the two of them. The girls around him watched him as he disappeared into the master bedroom where he found Carol to be waiting. She stood there with a smile on her face and gestured to the expanse of the bed.

He set his red flannel shirt and extra pair of jeans on the bed but just stood there after that. He wasn't sure how he felt about this. He knew that out of everyone in this group that she was the least likely to judge him over the marks that covered him, but he'd also never been exposed to someone like this before. Not intentionally anyways. She never goaded him on; she just stood there patiently waiting with a smile on her face. The thought of asking her to turn around cross his mind but dismissed it quickly knowing that he would have sounded like a child. He sighed and finally started to remove his clothes.

She found herself watching the man eagerly. Sure she'd kinda seen him without his shirt off before, but it was because he was injured and covered in dirt. She was so worried about him being stabbed and then shot that she hadn't paid much attention to him physically. Now he had her undivided attention, whether he liked it or, or noticed it not for that matter. She watched him slip his vest off first, the one with the unclean able angel wings. Sure she had tried to get them clean, but they didn't have any bleach and it wasn't like it was a typical survival item. She wanted to see them finally get clean, but what she wanted more was him to not be so slow about taking it off.

Before Daryl, she'd never seen a man's arms an attractive point of his body. They were just another part of the human body and with Ed powerful weapons used against her. But with every movement he made the muscles contracted underneath his skin and somehow the thought was extremely attractive to her. He was tan, lean, gruff, everything about him she realized, was downright sexy. She watched him toss the vest into the bin before working on the buttons of his usual green shirt. His large arms muscles filled the cut off sleeve shirt in which she knew that he'd done himself. The edges were torn, frayed and maybe a little bit uneven.

He fumbled on the last button. He tried to tell himself that he didn't care what anyone had to say but he knew it was wrong. He didn't want to hear the remarks of pity that he knew would come along with the sight. He didn't want to have to explain his past, which he probably wouldn't have anyways. He respected that the woman in front of him didn't say anything about it, she was the only one he would talk to about it. Her words and opinions were the only ones that mattered to him. It was because of this bond that he had with her. This bond which he was coming to really love. It was something that he only had with her and no one else and he'd never had anything like that before. He'd never been allowed with Merle and his Pa around, they ran his life. But not Carol, she stood beside him even when his temper would fly through the roof.

And so after a brief hesitation, he un-did the last button shrugged out of it. He felt bare without it and looked to find a reaction from her face. Her lips were tugged up in a smile. Odd, it wasn't the reaction that he was expecting. He watched as she absentmindedly ghosted her palm over her left side. He mirrored her and found the rough patch of scar tissue of his healing arrow wound. He hadn't thought much about it lately; it sure as hell wasn't bothering him. The physical wound at least. There were so many emotions attached to the scar, the biggest was disappointment and failure. Although he had managed to find her doll, it turned out to be a sign of false hope and he was convinced that was why the wound was taking so long to heal.

She had to admit the amount of scars that he had really had shocked her. Many of them looked like they came from deep wounds that required the attacker or attackers to be using a great amount of force. Many of them were white and dull with age; he had some that were still pink and shiny. The most recent looking ones looked to be the wound on his side and the one on his forehead complimentary of one of their own. She knew she had some of her own but not nearly this amount. Ed gave her bruises in which had long healed. It was her emotions and mental state which she knew was more damaged. She just wasn't the person that she used to be.

The scars weren't the only things that she was looking at however, but she used them as cover for her true intentions. He never said a word to her; he just stood there his arms at his side with a blank look across his face. She wondered if he noticed that she was taking extra time looking at his broad chest but not the little white lines which decorated his skin. Or his thin waist in which his makeshift belt was tied tightly around him to keep his hunting pants from falling down. He did noticed when she looked at his face, into his steel eyes which were already focused on her. She couldn't find any words and she could feel her face flush.

For a moment nothing happened and her gaze dropped from him and her face turned red. He found himself finding that her reaction was…cute? When the hell did he start thinking things were cute, like some little girl? Regardless, there was something about her reaction that he liked.

"Ya just gonna stand there all day?" He asked

" I still need everything else" She stuttered. He watched with a small smirk across his face. It turned out that he liked messing with her as well, which was something he never thought he would enjoy doing with anyone. He'd tried messing with Merle once when he was a kid and one time was enough to realize that it wasn't such a great idea.

"You sayin you want ma pants off too woman?" He asked and he watched her face flush again. It was like playing a game and he was sure as hell winning right now.

She didn't know what to reply to him. Since when did Daryl joke around like the rest of the guys in the group? She wanted to see him open up more to the group. Maybe it would happen one day, and maybe it wouldn't. The idea of her being the only one to be able to see these newly emerging qualities from the stern hunter made her happy. These experiences with him were new and exciting and she liked it. She liked knowing that maybe she of all people was able to do something that everyone thought was impossible.

"Yes" She stated with the straightest face she could manage because it was so very much true and it sure as hell didn't have anything to do with the laundry.

The comment took him aback. He sure as hell didn't expect that out of her. Her answer swarmed in his head and he couldn't wrap his mind around it. It was a simple answer, yes, she was agreeing with his question but it confused him. Was she saying it because she needed to get the laundry done or was it that she was coming onto him? It had to be the laundry right. He knew they were close but there ain't no way she was found him appealing. He watched as she set down the basket near the door and crossed her arms over her chest and walked over to him. She stared him straight in the eyes as she took the last few steps over to him but he couldn't read her.

She let out a shaky breath. Since when had she been so forthcoming? Well since now. She unfolded her arms as she reached him and felt him tense as she touched his shoulder. His body went ridged underneath her small hand and she heard him swallow. It made her sad to see someone as strong as him feel so uncomfortable from such a simple touch. But he never pulled away from her. She sighed brushing her thumb over a scar which started on his shoulder and ran down his bicep and felt him shudder. She looked up to meet his gaze and was shocked to see something that she didn't expect from him. He looked confused but there was a fire there as well and that was what she wanted to see.

Without taking her eyes off of his she removed her hand from his shoulder and instead placed it on the side of his waist. She felt him tense again but as she ghosted her fingers up and down his side she felt him relax. They brushed over the little white lines and onto the patch of scar tissue from the arrow wound. The one he'd gotten hen he'd almost gotten himself killed looking for _**her**_ daughter. And although one day she wanted to know the story behind every one of his other scars it wasn't what she had in mind for right now.

Her hands were so soft and gentle, unlike every other touch he had received in his whole life time and damn did he like it. He felt her starting to pull away from him and without thinking he clasped an arm around her waist and pulled her against him. He'd be damned if he was going to let her go now. He heard her gasp as she came into contact with his bare chest and allowed himself a small smile when he felt her tiny hand snake around his waist. This was nothing like he'd ever felt before, who knew touching a women could bring such feelings.

A hug. It seemed so trivial to someone else but she found herself happier in that moment then she had been in a long while. She knew the two of them were getting closer lately but even then he was cautious with his physical advances. She knew it was cliché but she felt perfect against him with an arm wrapped around her. She felt safe with him. She also felt the urges she'd had lately come to surface. It wasn't quite clear to her when they had started exactly. The two of them had been becoming closer since everything that went on at the farm but she couldn't pinpoint on their timeline when things had turned from the man who been nice to her and tried to find her daughter to best friend and man of sexual interest.

Her hands dropped from around his waist and he started to pull away with a clear of his throat. It sounded like he was about to say something when instead she placed her hands on his hips instead. Whatever thought he she heard it catch in his throat and grinned. He was at a loss of words which was good because she was at a loss on what the hell to do next. She'd never been in a position of power before. Ed told her what to do and she did it with no questions asked. Always the follower and never the leader. Well she didn't want to be that woman anymore and even though the thought scared her she decided to try and take charge. As she ghosted her hand down from his hip down the front of his leg and back up to the inside of his thigh he wasn't the only one to gasp.

The sensation of her delicate fingers left a tingling feeling where they had made their course. He grunted in response to her fingers grabbing the flesh of his thigh through the hunting pants which he suddenly he was more than okay with getting rid of. Feelings of total satisfaction ran through her when the tip of her finger brushed against what his thin pants failed to hide. She was more than ready to finish what she started. She was untying the cord he was using to keep them on when the knock at the door came. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the door handle moving. She flushed as she looked from his thigh to his blank face and then to the door.

"Carol?" The woman's voice called. "Daryl in there with you?" It asked

She looked to Daryl who seemed to have trouble concentrating on her but nodded. After a long pause she took a deep breath.

"Yes…. Be out in a minute, was just getting his laundry" She answered. There was another pause.

"Alright then" The voice said with a chuckle and then it was gone. She listened to the gentle footfalls become quieter and when she could hear them no more she turned to face him. He'd stepped over to the wall and was now leaning against it gazing at her.

"I uh" She stammered.

"'s okay" His responded gruffly.

"No it's not. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…" She spoke in a small voice.

He pushed himself off the wall and came to stand in front of her. He watched her glance nervously around the room and when their gaze met for the quickest moment she dropped it to the floor. She crossed her arms over herself and bit her lip.

"I said it'sokay" He spoke again and after a pause added "was nice"

Her eyes darted up to meet his and she couldn't stop the smile that was forming on her lips. He smirked and placed a hand on her shoulder. The two just stood there for a moment before Carol cleared her throat.

"Let me get those" She insisted. He grunted in response and started to untie the cord quickly. She turned around quickly biting her lip when she heard the sound of fabric hitting the floor. It was a tempting thought to turn around and peek, but she allowed the hunter his privacy.

He padded across the floor, watching her to make sure she didn't turn around. He quickly changed clothes wondering exactly what the hell just happened a few seconds ago. It wasn't unwelcomed and he felt disappointment run through him. Fuck whoever knocked at the door. But at the same time he wanted a chance to think about it all. When he was finished he tapped her lightly on the shoulder.

"All done?" She asked and he handed her his clothes in response. She grabbed onto them tightly and tucked them into the bin which she'd picked up while she waited for him to get change. She hefted the bin onto her hip and looked up to meet his gaze and smiled. He'd changed from his normal shirt into the red plaid that she loved to see him as well as his pair of faded jeans

"Yea" He answered. "Let's get goin' woman"

She nodded in response. She fumbled with the lock of the door nervous about the situation. She wasn't quite sure who was on the other side of that door and although she knew how she felt about Daryl she wasn't sure how he really felt towards her. She didn't want some stupid rumor going around this group. If someone started on it would take only a matter of hours before everyone knew. Probably less due to their current situation. So she exited the room with caution and started down the hallway.

"I'll be out huntin" He spoke, his hands in his pocket.

"Can we go to practice later?" She asked. "I think I can get it this time" She said optimistically.

"Sure" He spoke quickly. As they made it to the bottom of the stairs she turned the corner to head out the back door as Daryl grabbed his bow, his knife and was out the front door in a matter of a few strides. Those in the room looked amongst themselves and to either door.

"Did something just happen?" Carl asked looking to his mother who just shrugged.

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Daryl strode out into the woods with purpose needing to clear his head. He'd come across a small clearing not far from their house and sat down on a fallen tree. He raised his crossbow, checking the area around him and when he found nothing he set it down so that it rested against the tree. He wasn't exactly sure what just transpired there. He knew the two of them were getting close, in a way that was a lot more than just friends, even he could sense the change between the two of them and he'd' never been in any sort of relationship before.

These thoughts of the two of them swarmed around his head. He'd never felt anything like this before and he still wasn't sure how to react to it. What would have happened if whoever knocked hadn't done so? He'd done enough to know what happened when things got intense between a man and a woman, but those times had meant nothing to him. They were quick drunken encounters in an attempt to relieve stress and find a few moments of human companionship. Despite the many beatings that his father and brother had given him to instill what it was to be a man and get rid of any weakness it had never really gone from him. His temper, his gruffness they were supposed to protect him from these feelings and from anyone who tried to get to know him.

His family had made it very clear that there wasn't anything about him that was worth something to someone else and that he shouldn't even bother. And he had believed them all these years. But now, someone seemed to genuinely be interested in him. Hell she had tried to take his pants off and she wasn't completely smashed or high. She cared for him; she'd practically said it to him. He could see it in her that she wanted to keep going with it and despite her nervousness she probably would have. And he wanted her to. He wanted her to really touch him and nearly groaned thinking about her finger had just barely brushed him. Damn had it been a long time.

He shook his head. He came out here to clear his head not think about it more. Here he was in his element. He grabbed his crossbow and quietly stepped further into the forest.

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The small river in the back of the house had come in so much use since they had made their temporary home here. The men had scouted out the first day that they hadn't seen any sign of the water upstream being contaminated with walkers which was a plus because they needed a source of water. Their supply of bottles certainly wasn't going up enough to have a dozen people to be able to drink it.

Carol, Lori, Michonne and Andrea knelt by the side of the river with their washboards and bins cleaning everyone's clothes. The water was cold compliment of the oncoming winter and even after a few seconds of being submerged Carol's hands would start to become numb. It was worth it of course, she loved doing things like this. It was needed for the group and it was her way to keep her mind on something else.

She knew of course that all of the women around her were staring at her while she worked. She could feel their eyes on her; it was something she had acquired after being with Ed for so many years. They were suspicious and she knew it. No doubt whoever had knocked on the door had told them what they thought was going on. She would glance up at them every so often and watched as their gazes fell from her own. What were they in? Grade school? She scoffed and went back to rubbing the clothing against the board. Even though they hadn't done much by her she found incredibly rude to talk about her when she was right in front of her. Especially being that besides Dale she was the oldest person in this group.

She tried to shake off the thoughts and looked down to the piece of clothing she held in her hands. It was Daryl's vest which she still had been working on trying to get the wings clean. It wasn't working of course but she was trying. She wrung the garment out a final time before going over to hang it up. She strung it over the wire which they were using as their clothesline and just looked at it for a moment and found herself smiling. As she sat down and grabbed the next piece of clothes she realized that it was Theodore's. She nearly went scrambling through he bin.

Surely that wasn't all of Daryl's clothes. She knew that he didn't have many but she looked through the bin and on the line and felt herself flush. She checked the line once more just to make sure she wasn't forgetting something but all of his clothes were already hung up. He hadn't given her a pair of boxers and she knew that he hadn't taken any up with him to change. The thoughts that he did not and was not currently wearing anything under those pants of his both embarrassed her and turned her on.

_Oh Mr. Dixon_ she thought to herself, keeping her head down as she started to wash the rest of the clothes.

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The sun was still in the sky when Daryl returned to the house but night would be coming in a few hours. His haul was relatively small, just a few squirrels and a rather large bird. It was barely enough protein to keep twelve people really happy but he did the best he could. The woods around here were quiet, too quiet. Something didn't quite sit right with him. He knew the forests were becoming scarcer lately but just the other day he had seen more critters running around.

He knocked on the door but didn't let himself in. It was a code that he had established with everyone who lived in the house. In a matter of seconds Glenn popped his head out of the door and looked over to Daryl who was already sitting down at his 'workspace'

"I'll be right back" The kid answered before shutting the door. Daryl set down his crossbow looking out to the woods around him. Silence. It was easier to work in at least. He grabbed the first kill he'd strung up and got to work on cleaning it. Glenn returned a few minutes later with the equipment that he'd been using for cleaning his kills and a plate with a piece of bread, a decent scoop of canned veggies and two small slices of fried canned meat. Another regular meal in the zombie apocalypse.

"Thanks" He grunted pushing the place aside for the moment and focusing on the task at hand. He made quick work of the small animals; the hardest part was de feathering the bird. He set the hides in one pile and the small amounts of the animals that weren't going to be wasted. He had to admit that he didn't think any of these city folk would eat the entrails of their meals, but he was surprised to see that people were willing to eat whatever when there wasn't much left to eat and they needed every bit of food to survive. Maybe Carol was right after all. Maybe he had earned his place here and started to influence the rest of the group.

As he finished up putting everything in its piles the door creaked open again. He glanced up and watched as Carol came out onto the porch. She smiled as she approached and sat down on a seat across from him looking at the mess before her.

"I'll clean it up when I'm done" He mumbled looking at all the blood and feathers.

"You need to eat something" She spoke picking up the plate. He wiped his hands clean of blood and then took the plate from her picking up one of the veggies between his fingers and tossed it into his mouth. He did the same with a small chunk of what he guessed was spam and when he was done licked his fingers clean, blood and all. He watched her make a face of disgust and smirked.

"Sure seems like there's a lot on 'ere" He spoke tearing some bread and picking up another small bite of food. He glanced over to her saw that she was biting her lip. He rolled his eyes and handed her the plate.

"This is yours" She spoke not taking it from him.

"I ain't eating till you have" He growled. "You ain't foolin me woman"

She accepted the plate hesitantly and took a small bite. Since when had they become so close that he knew when she hadn't eaten? She chewed slowly taking small bites trying to convincing herself that she was full. He was the one that needed the strength, he was out doing work. She finished a small bite and handed the plate back to him. He watched as she placed her hands in lap as he took the plate from her and finished off what was left.

"Ready ta go?" He asked her setting the plate down.

"Sure. Let me just take this stuff inside. I'll get someone to clean up out here" She answered picking up the meat and the plate. Daryl took the hides and left over bits. He took the small bits and buried them in the ground away from where they lived and the hides he left out to dry on the stump of a tree on the side of the house . Soon he'd have enough to have the women sew them together and create some kind of blanket. He hefted his crossbow over his shoulder as he returned to the front porch to pick up his knife. He wiped it against the leg of his pants and placed it back in its sheath on his hip.

While he waited for Carol to come back out with her weapon he walked the perimeter of the house. He cringed as he heard the rattling of Michonne's walkers on chains. Although they had protected the two women for a little bit he couldn't help but think that they should have just killed them on spot. Rick was a good man; he knew what he was doing. The sudden noise of birds caught his attention. He looked to the skies and saw an enormous flock of what looked like crows take off and they started to fly this way.

It struck him as odd that so many birds were flying like that together. Migration maybe? But these were crows, they didn't migrate.

"Do you see something in the clouds?" The small voice spoke from behind. He turned around to see Carol walking towards him with her bow in hand. She placed a hand over her eyes and looked up towards the sky. "Sophia liked to find things in the clouds" She added after he didn't say anything.

He watched as the flock of birds flew quickly in the air until they were no more than just black specks. Maybe it was nothing.

"Ca'mon" He spoke and strode off in the other direction towards the spot they had chosen for practice.

As they reached it she stood back for a few minutes as he set up the target and set the arrows in a pile on the ground. He motioned for her to come over and pointed at the target.

She fell into the stance he'd talked to her about. She felt like she really got it right this time, she'd moved in and out of it the last time they were here.

"Good" He spoke "Just lower yer elbows a little" She grinned to herself. She was doing pretty good, now came the hard part, actually shooting the target. The last time she had managed to clip the very edge of it but then the arrow fell out. It turned out that a regular bow required you to have a lot of upper arm strength which she had none of. But she never gave up and she was proud of herself for it.

"Pull back on the string, aim, release and follow through" He instructed standing behind her. She was caught off guard with him nearly breathing down her neck and as she went to release the arrow just fell to the ground. He growled behind her.

"Concentrate woman" He growled at her picked up the arrow and showing her how knock it onto the string.

_If only I could_ She thought to herself. After being so close to him before she found that he was affecting her more than usual, yet he didn't seem to be effected at all. He seemed to like it before, had he changed his mind?

"Ya gonna shoot or daydream?" He spoke roughly "Cause you can go back to the house and do that rather then wastin ma time"

"I'm okay I swear" She answered quickly.

"Good. Now get back into stance ….and don't forget to actually pull back this time" He added after a small pause. He watched her nod and fall into the stance which he took so long in teaching her.

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Maggie strode up the stairs and quickly dashed into the room across the hall from the bathroom. She set her glass of water down on the side table after taking a long sip. The rest of the women had gathered here, trying to get away from the men. Even at the end of the world they wanted to have their own time together and it turned out that when you were running from the walking dead you really didn't get many chances.

Andrea was sitting in the corner on a fold up chair which once was a seat for a case of beer or two. Michonne was leaning against the wall next to her watching everyone in the room. Lori sat on the edge of bed along with her little sister. As she entered they all looked up and greeted her.

"What's up" She asked taking a place on the floor.

"We were just walking about what's been happening today" Lori spoke. "I was telling Beth about what happened when I went upstairs to get Carol"

"What exactly did happen?" The older sister asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well…were not really sure" She started "But when I knocked on the door and Carol answered instead of Daryl I was just surprised. Clearly the man can take off his own clothes. It seems odd that she was in there with him"

"You really don't think" The farm girl started

"It doesn't seem very possible" Andrea spoke "We've known Daryl for a quite a bit of time now…he just doesn't seem like a guy that would get involved with a woman" She stated.

"What about a man?" Beth asked

"I seriously doubt that. But you never know" Lori responded

"He just doesn't seem like he cares enough to be in a relationship with someone that actually means something" Andrea added

"You think he's the kind of guy who just goes for one night stands?" Maggie asked sipping from her water.

"Dunno" Lori shrugged.

Michonne sighed heavily and looked out the window. What the hell were they doing gossiping like little girls? She didn't understand them. Even Andrea was participating in this.

"So why Carol?" Maggie asked

"I know…I wouldn't expect that from her what with Ed and all. He and Daryl are almost the same person" Lori spoke

"He's defiantly different from Ed" Andrea spoke. "That man was a menace. You remember that day at the quarry Lori don't you? Daryl's aggressive but I don't think he's like that" She defended. Lori only shrugged. She didn't seem to be very convinced.

"Did you see her down at the river?" Lori asked the other women trying to change the subject away from him. They shook their heads. "It looked like she was trying to not make eye contact with us. Like she was embarrassed. She looked a little flushed too. Now why would she be like that?" She asked with a smirk across her face.

Beth flashed the older woman a glance. Although she probably didn't mean any harm she seemed to be almost picking on the woman. She never had anything against her, they were friends weren't they? Carol acted like a mother towards everyone.

"Uhh I feel a little bad talking about Carol like this behind her back" The small blonde spoke meekly. "It doesn't seem right since she's our friend and all"

Maggie smiled at her sister. Always the peacemaker.

"Beth's right. We should find some work to do instead of sitting around and gossiping like old maids" Maggie spoke with a smile standing up. The rest of the women nodded in agreement even Lori who reluctantly got up from the bed closing the door behind her. It seemed for now that she was the only one suspicious.

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Hour passed and the sun was starting to sink below the horizon. Carol nearly dropped the bow and attempted to sooth her sore arm muscles from the rough workout they'd just received. She was pleased with herself though, she had managed to consistently land arrows on the target and although she still wasn't getting bulls-eyes she was almost there. Daryl seemed to be impressed with her as well because after the first hour or so he stopped yelling at her about every little thing. She knew that he didn't mean to be harsh of course; it just happened that he was.

"Good work" He spoke and placed a hand on her shoulder. She smiled and suddenly the yelling didn't seem to matter. She watched him as he roughly tore out the last couple arrows from the target he had fashioned from sticks and a few hides. He snatched up a few remaining arrows that were on the ground and handed the bundle to her.

"Les head back" He spoke "Were losin daylight. Don't wanna be out here when night comes" She watched as he glanced around in all directions as they walked back through the forest. The forest was dim and silent. The only thing she could hear was the crunch of leaves beneath her feet, not even the sound of his breathing. If he wasn't walking in front of her she wouldn't have believe that he was there. She always wondered how he did it. She found it incredibly unsettling as they walked back to the house and heard nothing.

"You never told me about the other night. What happened" She spoke softly

"Ain't much of a story" He responded quickly.

"I'd still like to hear it" She replied. "Besides you said you would the other night" He grunted in response. He didn't like to place himself in a light which made it seem like he was showing off. There wasn't anything to be proud of for what he did. He'd done what he had to for the good of the group and after being with them for so long they were important to him. So how could he tell this woman it was because he wanted to do everything in his power to keep them all safe because he honestly cared for them all? That he wanted to be the one to protect her from whatever came their way? After everything on the farm and the things that she had done for him in the past he needed to be there for her like he wasn't able to do for her daughter.

"If it means that much to ya" he spoke quietly after a long pause. She grinned. She had been waiting to hear this story. But suddenly he stopped in front of her giving her the hand symbol to stop. She gripped the bow close to her and looked around the trees. It was dead quiet, nothing but the occasional rustle of wind.

"What is it" She whispered

"Hush" He commanded and she fell silent. No sign of thoughtful Daryl here. She stood at his side now and stole a glance at his face. His eyebrows were furrowed and his face scrunched in a growl. His eyes were dark and they narrowed as he spun around in the direction they had come from. He raised his bow looking down the scope treading over the ground carefully.

"Walker" He spoke quietly. Her eyes widened and she turned around to face the direction. At first she couldn't see anything but trees and leaves. She tried to listen like he could but she couldn't hear it coming. He nudged her and pointed in the direction. After staring into the trees she was able to see the slow moving form of a single walker traveling towards them. She watched as he stood his ground and barely moved a muscle.

"Why're we still here?" She asked "We can easily get away from one walker and just one doesn't pose a threat to the cabin"

"Cause yer gonna kill it" He answered.

"What?" She asked in disbelief. "I can't kill that it's moving and I can barely hit a non moving target"

"You'll be fine. 's barely movin. You said yerself one walker ain't a problem"

"For you maybe" She countered

"You can do it" He reassured

He was right. She could kill it. It was barely moving and it moved in a straight line. It couldn't go wrong and even if it did Daryl would kill it before something bad happened. So when the intruding walker came close enough Daryl gave her the signal to go. She drew the bow and loaded an arrow quickly. She fell into her stance and pulled back on the drawstring aiming at the monsters head. It helped her to imagine that she was shooting at her late husband's face. It gave her the courage and the anger which fueled her will to fight against these creatures which terrified her so much. The worse thing in the world to her was her daughter becoming one of these things and that was exactly what happened. She wanted them to pay.

She released the first arrow only to have it land in the tissue of the walker's stomach. She silently praised herself for hitting her target but cursed herself because it fell short of her real target. He grabbed another arrow from his hand and drew it quickly firing seconds after the first. The arrow fell short of her target all together and soon was crushed underneath the walker's feet. Once being fired at it realized that there was food in front of it and it picked up its pace. It lumbered towards them more quickly and panic started to set in. She grabbed the next arrow with trembling hands.

Daryl was quiet behind her and she wondered how long this was going to go on. When he didn't do or say anything he raised the bow again, aiming for the middle of its forehead. She released and sighed in frustration as the arrow whizze3d over her head and landed in the leaves behind it.

"Daryl" She called panicking

"You got this" He encouraged.

She had to admit that the second time he said it wasn't as convincing. She was really starting to freak out how close it was getting to them and Daryl hadn't moved a muscle. She tried to calm herself knowing that if Daryl wasn't worried then she shouldn't have to be worried either. She repeated the process again and as when she released the arrow she watched it land in the shoulder of the creature. It stumbled back a bit at the force of the impact but kept going. She grabbed another quickly. Surely fifth was the charm? As she drew back aiming at the zombies head she nearly cried out at how close it was. She let the arrow go and it pierced though a small section of its neck but apparently not enough to stop it.

She squealed as the walker was nearly upon her and she turned around to look at Daryl whose cold gaze was concentrated on the walker in front of him. He didn't seem to even notice that she was panicking. She tried to fumble with the bow but her palms were so sweaty and she was shaking so badly that she dropped it to the ground. As she went to retrieve it, the walker lunged at her, finally close enough to its prey. She screamed as she went to the ground trapped underneath the snarling creature.

Her eyes were blurry with tears as she heard the snapping of its teeth and its graveyard smell invaded her nose.

"Daryl help!" She cried trying to push it off her. It leaned in towards her and she wriggled beneath it to avoid getting bit. She tried fumbling for the knife that she'd been carrying at her hip but could only finger the handle with the position she was in. There was no way with her feeble strength that she was going to be able to push it away from her. Just as she thought that it was finally going to get to her skin and rip out her throat it went still above her with a groan and she saw the arrow sticking through the side of its skull. She let out shaky sigh, tears flowing down her face. She pushed it off of her standing slowly and staring into his eyes. His expression never changed

"Daryl…" She questioned. "What was that?" Her voice came out shaky when she wanted to sound strong, She wiped away her tears with the side of her arm.

"You were fine" He spoke.

"It could have bitten me. It was so close" She cried. He was too calm. Did he have this planed? He had let that thing endanger her life, was he trying to kill her now?

"I wouldn't have let it"

"You let it fall on top of me. You let its teeth get inches away from me" Her voice rising and gesturing angrily to the side of her neck.

"Nothing was going to happen to you"

She glared at him. What the hell was this? How dare he put her life in danger for the sake of a lesson? He knew that she still wasn't that good at this. Her life was on the line and it took him till she had almost been bitten for him to have done anything.

"Bull" She snarled tears welling in her eyes. She was so scared and angry and hurt. They nearly blinded her.

"Ca'mon" He growled in response. With the way she was shooting earlier he thought that she was going to be able to do shoot it. Or at least disable it so that she could go in for the kill with a melee weapon. He hadn't expected it to get that close to her.

"Why? Gonna run off and shoot me in the back?" She growled as she picked up the weapon and briskly walked away from him. He went to grab for her but she pulled away from him.

"Yer goin the wrong way woman" He spoke gesturing towards their correct direction. She huffed angrily and turned and started to walk in the other direction.

"Carol" He growled. He watched as she stopped and turned around. The look on her face said it all. If looks could kill.

"What" She hissed

He stopped in place. She didn't want to listen to him, not even to an explanation. Maybe he had taken it a little far but she needed to learn to deal with the pressure that came along with shooting a moving target coming towards you. And that was only one target what if there had been more walkers? But on the other hand, it had come close to her and given her experience with walkers….he wasn't sure how to say it because he knew it was going to come out wrong and make her angrier at him. Daryl Dixon was not a person that made mistakes, but it seemed that he had been lately and all of them had to do with her. As he stood in the angry silence he listened to the sounds around him. Her angry breathing and the sound of his own soft breaths. Then he heard a sound that made him turn around and look off into the woods.

"What?" She asked her voice still laced with venom.

"Did you move?" he asked

"I've been standing right here" She answered.

He listened to her and continued to look around the area. Everything for the moment seemed quiet but then he started to smell it and looked to her. The anger she had faded fast and that look of panic filled her face.

"Walkers" She gasped out.

"And a hell of a lot of em. One er two don't make that sort of smell…probably the herd that I lead off the other night. Musta found their way here" He concluded. He reloaded the bow.

"We need to get back now" Carol spoke. "The group doesn't know"

"With this many we'll get overrun. We gotta evacuate" He rushed. "Ca'mon" He commanded flying off in a full run. She picked up the last couple arrows from the ground before rushing after him.

The two raced through the forest, dodging trees and jumping over rocks and logs. She nearly tripped as she stepped into a hole into the ground. Daryl fell back and steadied her and pushed her ahead of him. He wasn't sure if the herd had caught onto them but he knew that they were attracted by Carol's scream. It wouldn't be long until they caught their scent. He looked behind him quickly trying to gauge how far away from they were. He started to see their shapes more clearly now and knew they'd caught their scent. They had to hurry.

Daryl took lead as they neared the house; Beth was sitting on the front porch sewing something when they arrived. The two of them looked panicked and they were running up onto the porch and into the house. Carol's face reflected nothing but terror. She stood up immediately at watched as Daryl nearly threw the door down.

"Everybody grab anythin you can. Walker herd" He barked

Rick stood in the middle of the room. "How many"

"Too many to hold off" The hunter responded. Rick nodded gravely and started issuing commands out to everyone as well. The house was in panic. Just when they thought they had some place safe they were being run out. Everyone carried supplies by the arm load and threw them into the cars. Carol along with Beth and Lori ran out back snatching up their baskets and till damp laundry.

She watched as people worked together hauling weapons, food, blankets and some of the supplies from the kitchen outside. Glenn was dashing back and forth with an armful of different things every time she saw him, damn the kid moved fast.

Carol picked up her last armful of items and stared at the house while the rest of the group had formed a circle. She liked this house. Even though it was way too small for so many people it was cozy and gave everyone a sense of home. The functioned like a normal family and now they had to run away from something that was good for them again. She watched as Daryl grabbed the hides he had strung up and slung them over his arm. He handed them over to Carl who took them and set them on top of the pile of blankets.

She wasn't quite sure of how she felt right now. A lot of new things had happened in that house, things that she didn't want to take me. She enjoy it, enjoyed him but at the same time she was furious with the way he'd gone about it. In a way he had almost killed her and he'd always told her that he would protect her no matter what. It hurt because as much as she wanted to immediately forgive him and say that everything was okay she couldn't. She wasn't the old Carol who would just suck up and let everything go. She wanted to stand up for herself now.

Rick and Daryl had come up with somewhat of a plan to head in the direction of their last supply run. Due to the fact that there wasn't much else of an option everyone agreed. As everyone was heading into their vehicles Michonne approached Rick.

"No" Carol heard him say

Michonne nodded and she briskly walked away from the group. She watched carefully, waiting for the return. Rick wouldn't leave her behind. While she was waiting, Daryl caught her attention and gestured to the bike. With a heavy sigh she crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. She watched the flash of disappointment on his face and felt guilt welling up in her. But then it turned to a sneer and he watched him turn away from her and straddle his bike.

Her heart sunk and she felt tears well up. He was the closest thing that she had to a friend and she didn't want to lose that with him. She didn't want him to pull away from the group but what he had done to her was wrong. All she wanted was an apology from him. It wouldn't exactly take away what he'd done but it would be something, enough to allow herself to talk to him.

Michonne returned quickly sheathing her katana as she did. She noticed the blade was slick with blood. Her walkers. She'd almost forgotten about them. It made sense now though. There was no way to take them along. There was no room and everyone would be uncomfortable with them. Michonne wasn't willing to try and run with them so she had just cut them loose. She hopped into the red truck next to Andrea whose lips had fallen in a frown.

Rick looked around and shouted something towards Glenn and Daryl who both gave him signs of understanding. She sat down next to T-Dog in the back seat of the SUV being driven by Glenn. The man seemed surprised to see her with them in the car but didn't say anything about it. She looked out the window, watching the hunter as he angrily kick started the bike and pulled out in front of the convey leading the way. She listened to the rumbling of the engine and leaned her head against the window of the car.

She awoke later and other then a cramp in her neck she felt pretty good. She rolled it around gently and looked out the window. There was already light in the sky. How long had they been traveling. She looked around the car and saw that Glenn was resting in the chair in front of her and T was at the wheel.

"Your awake" T spoke "Need anything?" He asked when she didn't respond right away.

"I'm good thanks" She replied. She tried to look past the red truck to get a glimpse of the man on the bike. Poor thing must be exhausted. No one else would ride that bike, he was up all night driving it leading them through the dark and bringing them through the morning.

"Where are we?" She asked

"Dunno. We've been moving for so long. Rick wanted to stop at a little place a while back just to hole up for the night but Daryl wouldn't let him. Told him that we needed to keep going, to find something safer. I tell you what, I dunno how he does it"

"Me either" She spoke sullenly.

She shifted so that she wasn't leaning against the window and noticed the passenger seat was unoccupied. She unbuckled her seat belt and crept up the aisle sitting herself down. She sighed. More leg room. T laughed a bit and she couldn't help but laugh back. Oh the simple things in life.

After a few more miles up the road the brakes of the red truck flashed and T immediately slowed the vehicle to a stop. He looked to the woman in the passenger seat with a shrug and unlocked his belt. She made no effort to get out; he would tell her what was going on.

Daryl slowed the bike to a stop and cut the engine. Fuck was he tired. The only time that he'd driven his bike all night like that before was….go figures when they were escaping the huge herd of zombies from the farm. But at least that time he had Carol riding with him. He rubbed his eyes and shook the thoughts out of his head as Rick and T came to meet him.

"Saw something up there" He spoke. "Looks like something we could use" He gestured towards the dark shape up the road.

"Is that a prison?" T asked crossing his arms

"Looks like it, but it could work for us" He answered

"How do we know that it's probably crawling with walkers" T protested

"Daryl's right. It could be just what we need. There are walls and fences. We could really protect ourselves in something like that. Plus there's much more space then the house" Rick spoke

"Plus if it's overrun it could mean that it fell a long time ago. I bet no one's tried ta take it back. There could be plenty a'supplies"

"Food. Water. Medical supplies" Rick spoke pausing for a moment. "We need this" He stated finally.

Daryl nodded. "You got it" He returned to his bike looking back to the group. T didn't seem to be in love with the idea but he didn't fight the decision. He watched as he returned to the driver's seat of the SUV and turned to talk to Carol. She still didn't want to get out and ride with him. He thought the anger would have gone when he spent so many long hours on his bike trying to avoid it, but it came back to him immediately. He needed to kill something.


	7. Chapter 7

So as it turns out I had a lot more time than I thought and I really didn't spend much of it studying. Which I probably should have but all my exams were easy. I'll try to keep the story updated as the Christmas break goes on.

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The sun had already come up as the group had come across the prison. It wasn't that far of a drive from when they had seen it on the horizon in the early hours of the morning. They stood in front of its massive barbwire fences, having already killed the walkers which were hanging out around the outside of it. The grassy fields on the other side of the second fences were covered in walkers. They limped around aimlessly. It was obvious that they hadn't had a food source in while. The walkers within were much thinner than the ones they had seen in the roads and on the highway. Regardless, there were a lot of them.

"It's gonna be a lot of work" Rick spoke to the small ring of people. Glenn, Daryl, T-Dog and Maggie surrounded him looking over the shoulder of their 'leader'

"So how do we do it?" Glenn asked adjusting the cap he wore upon his head, already sweating from the intense heat.

Rick glanced over at the double fence structure which circled the entire prison. In between there a dirt path in which they could all easily move around.

"We clip ourselves through this fence" He spoke gesturing towards the metal behind him "Once were all in we can seal it. That'll keep any walkers out once were inside" He paused to look for a reaction from the rest them. When they didn't say anything to oppose him he started again. "Then we can cut the fence again and start clearing out"

"That's a lot of walkers Rick" T spoke

"Yea maybe we can have some kind of distraction" Glenn suggested.

Rick sighed heavily. He scanned the place again looking for an option. They were right. Even with the amount of people they had there were a lot of walkers in there and they were low on ammo. Not everyone would be carrying a gun and those without the range were more likely to get swarmed. What they needed was to clear the entire field portion and find a way to get inside the prison, which was probably just as overrun or even more so. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all? He scanned the rest of the group that was waiting for the plan. His face met Lori who gave him a small smile. They were starting to get better after the whole outburst of Shane thing and he needed this for her, his son and baby on the way. They had to get into this prison.

"We'll think of something once were in there. We're safer behind that first fences then we are out here" He pointed out.

As if on cue more walkers appeared from the shade of the forest and stumbled towards the bunch of idiots just standing around.

"Rick's right. Les move" Daryl agreed. The small group scattered as T went to grab the necessary equipment from the trunk of the red truck. Rick gestured for the rest of the group to come and join them. Their scared and worried faces bothered him. He was supposed to be keeping everyone safe and yet it seemed that many of their plans involved putting them in high risk situations. Yet all of them continued to listen to him.

He explained to them the first half of the plan. Once they got behind the fence they needed to form the second part of it as to how they could quickly and efficiently take down the rest of the walkers. He needed time to think however and their time was limited due to the oncoming group of walkers behind them. T returned with the clippers and cords that they could use to 'repair' the fence behind them.

He took the clippers from him and started making incisions in the fence. When it was big enough, he allowed everyone to start slipping through. He let his family slip through first followed by Hershel and his family along with Carol. Andrea and Michonne slipped in next followed by the tail end of the group which was everyone with Rick. As Rick slipped through and started to repair the fence the walkers from the forest pressed their ugly faces up against the fence. They moaned and stuck their decaying limbs through and holes they could fit through.

Daryl watched as Glenn raised his weapon, a metal pole, stuck it through one of the holes and jammed it though the skull of a zombie. He quickly pulled it back out and the body collapsed backwards. The others around him grinned and clapped him on the shoulder.

He turned to Rick and tapped him on the shoulder pointing towards the area not far from where they were now which contained the entranced to the grounds around the prison. Rick nodded back at him and took off at a run in the direction of the gate. He soon heard the sound of eleven other footfalls against the gravel and couldn't help but smile. The walkers from inside the prison had started to notice the group and followed them as they started moving.

The group convened together again and Rick took a look round the area. There were two towers in which the group could easily access. Perfect places to get shots in from above, these people wouldn't be in any danger. Across the yard he could see a fence which wasn't all the way closed. Walkers hung around it and some passed through it to come into the yard. That was the first thing that needed to be taken care of.

"Its perfect" He spoke breathing a sigh of relief "If we can take that gate, stop anymore from coming in. We can pick off the rest of these walkers. We'll take the place by nightfall"

"How do we shut the gate" Hershel asked

"I'll do it. I'm the fastest" Glenn offered.

"No. You, Maggie, Beth, Andrea, Michonne, and T draw as many of them in this direction. Pop em through the fence just like Glenn did. Daryl you take the tower over there. Carol you go with him you've become a good shot. Just take your time we don't have a lot of ammo to spare. Hershel and Carl you take this tower"

"Right" Carl agreed rushing towards the door leading to the tower.

"I'll take care of the fence" Rick stated. The group around him nodded in agreement.

Glenn started to holler and wave his arms around. The others joined in banging their weapons against the fence and shouting as loud as they could. The walkers took the bait and started following the group to the fence. The group proceeded to aim their weapons through the holes of the fenced like Glenn had done already and popped them in the skull. They were easy targets now and due to their desire to eat the walkers didn't even see it coming. All of them worked together to grab their attention and kill them. Even Beth whose inexperience with weapons and how to deal with this new world picked up a weapon and helped out.

Daryl, Hershel, Carl and Carol high tailed it up the steps of the towers and took their positions high in the sky. Carol watched as Daryl took his position and aimed the bow at his first target. As Rick was running towards the gate and had his attention turned a walker crept up from his side attempting to surprise him. But she watched as he raised his bow and with deadly accuracy took the shot, nailing the zombie in the head and dropping it only inches away from Rick. The sheriff looked at the arrow and then to the tower nodding towards Daryl in appreciation. One less walker to worry about. Despite the fact that she'd only had a few lessons with Daryl she picked up the gun they had given her and aimed at a walker near Rick. She lined up her shot and went to fire. The bullet went much further right then she expected and Rick had to stop short to avoid the oncoming friendly fire. He looked towards her with a shake of his head.

"Sorry" She murmured, knowing the man could not hear her and raised her gun again. Why did these things have to be so damn hard to use. Even though she didn't mind doing the chores for the group she also wanted to help with the defending. Andrea had done it, why couldn't she? She wasn't that different then the blonde. Sure their jobs before the apocalypse were much different. She was a cutthroat lawyer and herself a librarian. Oh. Maybe that's why she had this killer woman inside of her. She laughed at the thought and picked up the rifle again picking her next target. After firing a shot which collided with her victims head she silently praised herself and looked over to Daryl who had just fired another shot himself.

What was she doing? She was supposed to be mad at him, not seeking his approval. She shook the thought off and glanced over to Hershel and Carl. The boy was growing so fast. It was sad to see that such a young one had to deal with the world like this instead of playing in the neighborhood with his friends. She imaged that he could shoot a gun ten times better then hit a baseball. Regardless of sex or age, everyone had a job to do now.

She watched as Rick finally made it to the gate. He kicked zombie in the chest pushing it back as he held the gate closed with a couple clips. He spun around and motioned to Daryl before shooting a few more walkers in the head and dashing through the door to the tower.

"Light it up!" Daryl commanded giving a hand gesture his voice ringing out over the relative silence of the day. Suddenly the atmosphere around them changed. She heard the sound of metal pipes and other weapons drop and the chorus of gunshots filled the air. A different sound every second from the array of different firearms they were carrying with them. She grinned; amazed with the power this group had and raised her own gun. The amount of walkers in the field dropped quickly as everyone continued to fire. Finally there was lone walker in the middle of the field. She lowered her rifle and watched as Rick raised his sniper and with a single shot the last walker dropped.

She glanced around and saw there was no more movement in the fields, only behind the fence in which they had sealed off. They had done it. The area was clear and she nearly wanted to jump in joy at the thought. She remembered thinking that the house they had found in the woods was the best thing that could happen to them but she knew she was wrong. This was the best thing that could happen to them. They had barbed wire fences which had proven that they could keep any walker from coming in. They had thick stones walls and vantage points in the form of towers. And most importantly they had space. It was a good day for the twelve survivors.

Daryl looked across the field. Nothing left. Their team had done a good job in taking care of all of the walkers. Plus it took them much less time then Rick had told them originally. He made a gesture towards Rick and then glanced over to Carol. She had a big grin across her face and he wanted to smile along with her. But as the rest of the group started to pile into the field she didn't once look at him and she quickly disappeared down the stairs to meet up with the rest of the group. She was still doing that shit huh? As much he wanted this to stop he wasn't sure what she wanted from him. He'd never been in this kind of situation so could she really expect him to react exactly as she wanted him to? He huffed and followed her down the steps needing meet up with Rick about their next plan. He watched as Carol nearly danced her way into the field. She twirled around with a big grin on her face.

"Fantastic" She stated looking around to the open field. Carol looked back to Lori who was grinning at her.

"You okay?" She asked

"Haven't felt this good in a while" Lori responded with a smile.

The field around her was green and finally they had something to look forward to. As she glanced back to her companions, all of which had smiling faces, she could help feel relieved and overjoyed. Finally something was going right for them.

"We haven't had this much space since we left the farm!" She exclaimed as she walked further into the field. It was flat and grassy. Since the walkers didn't have any enemies while they were wondering around the place they didn't leave much in the way of blood and guts so she knew they wouldn't have to worry about anything going wrong with it if they decided to use it.

She heard the sound of T-Dog's hearty laughing behind her.

"Whoo!" She shouted into the silence of the day.

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After the adventures of the day, night fell quickly. The group was clustered around a fire they built and were laughing and sharing a meal together. It was simple but everyone was happy. She tried to put together the best meal she could in order to celebrate their success today although without something fresh to add to the dish it was really just heated up canned food mixed together. But everyone seemed to enjoy it regardless. That is almost everyone. She looked to the north and saw Rick pacing around the perimeter of the fence.

"That's his third time around. If there was any part of it compromised he'd of found it by now" Hershel spoke

The man was diligent that was certain. But he'd spent the whole night wandering around the fence looking for something that wasn't there. She noticed the looks that Lori was giving. The two of them were still having a tough time but Lori was starting to accept what happened and she could tell that she wanted things to be right again. Was Rick over there because he wanted to absolutely make sure that nothing was going to come and get them in the middle of the night whole they slept in an open field? Or was it because he was trying to avoid Lori for a little while longer? She wasn't sure exactly.

"Tomorrow we can pull all the bodies together" T-Dog started and everyone stopped talking to listen to him. "We wanna keep them away from the water out there beyond the fence. If we can dig a canal underneath we'll have plenty of fresh water" he explained

"When the soil is good and the weather gets better we can plant some seed. Grow some cucumbers, tomatoes, soybeans…" The old man trailed off with a big grin on his face. The thought of doing what he did best, being a farmer, made him so happy and she watched as again smiles came across everyone's faces. She thought about it. It would be wonderful to have such things again. It would be like home. This place was a dream come true. Who would have through it would have come in the form of a prison.

She then looked in the opposite direction and saw Daryl standing on top of the overturned truck. Like Rick he was keeping watch. He paced back and forth diligently looking out towards the forest in which they came. They had escaped the herd and she wondered what happened to them and if they had made their way here. But she knew they were safe now but still the two men stood guard. There wasn't much light now only that of the fire. She could barely tell when he was facing towards the group or away. It was only when she could see his quiver of arrows and the crossbow on his back that she knew he was keeping lookout. There were a few times however when he would turn around as to listen to the group he couldn't hear but would quickly turn around again. She hadn't seen him take any dinner during the time that she was sitting here and no one around her seemed in any hurry to bring him anything.

She sighed. Regardless of the fact that she was still mad at him she didn't want the man to starve. She grabbed an extra bowl putting a small portion of what remained inside. The others watched her carefully and she felt their eyes on her as she turned around and walked over to the lone hunter. She could have sworn she heard snickers behind her but shrugged them off. Were they waiting to see how long it would take before she got up and did something?

The night was quiet and for the first time in a long time he wasn't worried about keeping a perfect eye on everything. The chances that anything bad would happen this night were slim to none when it seemed there was no way for any new walkers to get into their space. Rick had done a good job making sure the perimeter was secure and he guarded the main fence in front. So when he picked up the soft footsteps of someone coming over towards him it relieved him because he had something to do. He was surprised to see Carol rather than Rick. He nodded at her approached and grabbed the bowl from her hand as she tried to get up. He set it down, adjusted his crossbow and grabbed her by the hand pulling her up. When she was safely on top of the truck he grabbed the bowl and started to pick some of the food from within it.

"That's not much but if I don't bring you something you won't eat at all" She muttered softly.

"I guess little Shane over there had quite the appetite" He said jokingly

"Don't be mean" She said "Rick's gotten us a lot further then I thought…Shane could never have done that"

Shane. There were some days he woke up and glad that son of a bitch was dead. He saw how he was changing. He was more aggressive and wanted to fight every little thing that Rick said. He had to be the one that was different and made it seem like Rick was the bad guy and no one ever listened to him. He wasn't always that bad but he'd seen how he developed into the person he'd turned into when he died. It was just like watching Merle and he hated to see that. And even though it wasn't his fault that Sophia was in the barn that day, he'd been the one to release her and bring about the depressive self loathing side of Carol that he hated to see. When he was out there looking for her she was hopeful and he liked seeing that in her but all of that had changed once Shane did what he did. Sure eventually it was probably going to be exposed but he hadn't wanted it to be so soon.

He glanced over to her and found that she had a frown on her face and was rolling her shoulders as if she was in pain.

"Was wrong" he found himself asking as he dropped another piece of food into his mouth.

"That rifle…the kickback? I'm just not used to it" She muttered quietly

At first he wasn't sure how to react. Clearly the muscles in her shoulders were aching from the recoil of the gun. He'd felt that all too many times before but with him he had no one to do anything about it. Not that he needed anyone to do something like that for him. With her however he felt the need to be there for here like he had been for the past few weeks with the loss of her daughter. So even though she had been ignoring him for the past day or so he set down the bowl on the ground and gestured for her to come closer to him.

The desire to stay mad at him was fading. For as long as she'd known him, which in reality was only a few months, she'd never once had an experience in which he had been the one to start something. She wanted to stay mad at him and ignore anything until the day she heard him apologize even though she knew that the reality of that was unlikely. So against her better judgment she allowed herself to shuffle back a few steps until she felt his fingertips against her back. His fingers dug into the muscle of her back and despite her anger with him she felt herself melting into his touch. He was a lot gentler then she thought he would be and felt found it rather difficult to stifle back a moan of appreciation as his fingers kneaded her skin through the thin fabric of her shirt. She couldn't remember the last time that someone had offered to something like this for her. Ed certainly didn't want to touch her unless involved crawling in top of her.

Daryl Dixon was not the kind of person to give massages. If and when there was a women around there certainly wasn't anything other a few minutes of fake intimacy. He didn't aim to please; he did it simply for the high that came with it afterwards. But after the past week or so when she'd done just those little things for him and he'd enjoyed them he found that maybe there was something more than just the quick craving for that sexual energy alone. He also found that when it was her there was something in him that wanted to try something different even though he didn't know a damn about it. At one point she turned her head in the slightest so that when he looked at her she caught his gaze out of the corner of her eye. He met her gaze for a second before the feelings of embarrassment washed over him. He dropped his gaze quickly before pulling his fingers away and dropping his hands to his sides.

"Bes get back" He mumbled

"Was pretty romantic" She spoke after a long pause. The comment caught him off guard. Him? Romantic? He never thought those words would be coming out of a women's mouth.

Despite the fact she was furious with him about yesterday's events she found herself craving more contact. He was the person closest to her and without him she felt the depressing loneliness that came with the loss of her daughter creep up on her. She didn't want it to be like this, relying on someone to feel better about something. She knew Daryl wasn't the best person to get involved with. He could be emotionally cruel and he risked his life on an everyday basis to keep everyone safe. Those were reasons enough alone to just let the man alone but the craving for human contact and to feel contentment and happiness was starting to win out over those other feelings.

So when she found herself speaking even she herself was startled by what came out of her mouth.

"Screw around?" She questioned

His response came in the form of a nervous kind of scoff. He defiantly hadn't expected that out of her. Not after her being so mad at him for the last day or so and because the day before was the first time they had any sort of sexual contact. He watched her expression expecting her to be joking. He didn't want to fall for something so cruel because truth be told he wanted the answer to be yes. He found there to be a smile on her face and a spark in her eye. She wasn't kidding was she? Was she asking for it? Even if she really was there would be no place or time to do anything here. The entire group was no doubt ably keeping an eye on them and if anything transpired they would defiantly hear them. And for god sakes they had a kid with them they couldn't just go about doing that.

He walked to the edge of the truck not wanting to really confront her about this right now. He wasn't sure of the appropriate response.

"I'll go down first" He mumbled as he started to climb down to the ground below.

"Even better" She spoke with a grin across her face.

He nearly fell off the truck. The hell was that? There was no denying it she wasn't just joking around at this point, she really wanted these things. How could he tell her that he couldn't give her what she wanted? He'd never done it before, no one ever asked and truthfully he'd never offered. It wasn't the kind of thing that happened when you were shit faced and looking for a quick fuck.

"Stop" He laughed off jokingly hoping that she wouldn't notice the embarrassment and insecurity he was attempting to cover up.

But even in the darkness with only slivers of moonlight to prove any light she was able to make out a very faint change in color in his face. Was the man actually blushing? Because of something she said to him? In that moment she felt great about herself because she had done the impossible she had proved that even a Dixon could be embarrassed. She grinned as she followed suit down the side of the truck and followed quickly behind him.

The whole thing had been rather romantic, even if he hadn't realized or tried to make it so. It was a beautiful night, they were all in high spirits and he had genuinely been sweet to her. She knew that Daryl wouldn't do something like that for just anyone. It wasn't common for someone who was most of the time so emotionally cold. But perhaps he wasn't as cold as most people thought he was. She realized that after growing up with his brother he'd probably been forced to act a certain way and even though his brother wasn't there anymore he was still living in his shadow. His hardness was a part of who he was but perhaps if she chipped away at it, she would find something new and different about him. She certainly didn't want to change him. After all, that rugged, violent and commanding personality was something she found to be sexy about him. But maybe there was more to him that not even Daryl knew about.

Part of her was still very angry with him and she still wanted to hear his apology but despite that fact she knew she couldn't shut him out completely. Not like she had originally planned to do.

When they returned to the rest of the group, Beth was singing some sort of old song. Her voice was soft and sweet as she sang through the chorus. Maggie joined in afterwards. Her voice lower and taking a different sound. When the two sung together it made her want to cry. It had been so long since anyone has heard any kind of music. The radios were gone and singing was something that was usually done when one was happy. Needless to say there weren't many happy days worth singing about when the entire earth was becoming overrun with the walking dead. Listening to her brought back memories of singing lullabies to Sophia when she was a baby and trying to sing her to sleep after this whole mess had happened.

She didn't know the words of the song but she found herself humming to the tune the two girls created. She felt herself smiling and noticed that it caught the attention of a few in the group who proceeded to either hum along as well or try and sing along with the words. As she looked around the group she caught Daryl's gaze and slowly, a small formed across his face. Not just that little smirk that he normally got either, a genuine smile.

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When he awoke that morning, the sun was already out and shining. Despite the fact that they were in the middle of an apocalypse he felt…well rested. He had to have been asleep for at least nine hours or so. The smell of smoke from the dead fire beside him invaded the air for once he was grateful that it wasn't because they were burning bodies, although that would come later today. He sat up and looked around. Everyone lay scattered around the fire still asleep and many still snoring. He looked around and wondered who it was that took his normal shift in the early hours of the morning. It wasn't like Rick to not call upon him for watch. When looked to the sleeping bodies of those beside him he didn't see T.

What he did see was that of Carol who somehow had come to lay very close beside him. Wasn't she on the other side of the fire when they had all decided to call it a night? So when did she come over towards him? He shrugged it off. Grabbing his crossbow and his poncho he set out to look for T who deserved some sleep at this point. Unlike his brother, he never had anything against the man. He'd heard the stories from Rick and Glenn and T about how they had handcuffed him to the top of the roof and that when T had gone to unlock him he accidently dropped the key down the drain and left him there. Merle thought it was an obvious act of hatred against him but the man did his best to keep from walkers getting to him and they had come back for him as soon as they could. It was Merle's own damn choice to cut off his hand and try and make it out there alone.

Still, he was still his brother. Even after all the shit he did to him when he was a kid, and a teenager and up until this zombie thing they were still family. There was part of him that wanted him dead, after everything that he did to him but they were still family. If Merle had managed to survive and get out of that city he had no doubt that the man was alive somewhere. The two of them were going to survive this new world; they could have done it alone. It was Merle wanted in the first place, but when they found the group in Atlanta it had been Daryl to suggest that they stick with them. Safety in numbers right? Merle had never agreed with the idea, ever since the first day they had come to meet up with the group.

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_Daryl strapped his crossbow over his back as his brother stopped suddenly dropped to his knees and touched something in the dirt. His brother had always been the best tracker, hell he learned everything from him. _

"_Looks like a lotta people goin this way" The man spoke touching the footprint in the dirt. "Can't have been too long ago. Ground is still soft" He observed and stood up. He raised a hand over his eyes and looked towards the direction of the prints. This part of the forest was empty. It seemed that because of the hill the walkers didn't come up this way much which was disappointing. He had an itching to kill something. "Probably in that quarry"_

_After a brief pause Merle put his hand down and started walking in the opposite direction up into the forest from which they had come. _

"_What're you doin" Daryl spoke to him._

"_We ain't goin up there" He replied. "Is jus gonna be you and me little brother" He replied with a smirk._

_Daryl didn't like that idea much. Sure since their parents had both passed away it had always been just the two of them. Sometimes he didn't mind it; Merle wasn't always as bad as he could be. Most of the time however he was hopped up on drugs and it always brought out the worst in him. Merle was getting close to forty but he still acted like he did when he was a teenager. He still pushed him around and beat on him like he was their father. _

"_I think we should" Daryl spoke. _

_Merle turned around with a glare on his face. _

"_Oh you do do ya? Why? Ain't no one down there gonna accept you" He taunted with that smirk on his face. Fuck did he really hate that look._

"_Ain't about bein liked. More chances of survival if there's more than just two of us"_

"_We been doin fine out here on our own baby brother. Think we'll do better with a bunch a city folk who don't know what their doin?" He asked and Daryl had nothing to say. "They probly got kids down there too, you wanna deal with that?"_

"_We don't know if they do"_

_Merle glared as his little brother. It was supposed to be just the two of them until the end of days. He could get away with everything he wanted and never have to worry about a thing. The two of them were the best set of trackers and hunters. He really didn't want to go over there and play nice with the other folk but the thought of maybe getting some tail was an enticing thought._

"_Alright little brother. Les go see these people" He finally agreed. Daryl nodded in agreement. The two of them wheeled Merle's bike in the bed of his truck and stuffed the rest of their gear along with it. They grabbed the hides they had being hanging out to try and stuffed them in there too. The two Dixon boys all loaded up and ready to go made their way over to the quarry. It was a silent ride, and he wondered if Merle had any kind of alternative motive. He wasn't the kind of person that would just agree with someone, there always had to be a reason. _

_As they made their way up the dirt road, their sudden presence startled the group of people that were there. They looked shocked and fearful as the two drove up and parked behind some of the others cars. Daryl got out cautiously but stood beside his brother with his crossbow in his arms ready to fire if need be._

"_What do you want" A man with dark curls and eyes so dark they were nearly black spoke. _

"_Come ta join yur little group here" Merle spoke. "My brother and I been traveling by ourselves fur a while and we saw yur little camp from across the hills over there"_

_The man glanced over to Daryl who had a firm grip on the bow that he was carrying._

"_Put the bow down" He commanded. _

_Merle glanced over to him and nodded. Against his better judgment he set the bow down and crossed his hands over his chest. Not like that was all he was carrying though. _

"_What's your name" The man asked_

"_Merle and this here's my brother Daryl." _

"_Well Merle. How the hell do we know if you're not here just to cause trouble?"_

"_What the hell you talkin bout boy?" He growled "In case ya haven't noticed were in the middle of a goddamn zombie take over. Were just tryin to survive like all of ya'll"_

"_You two seem to be doing pretty fine on your own" He retorted_

_Daryl watched as that look came upon his brother's face. This was turning ugly fast. As much as the man in front of him gave him bad vibes he couldn't let the two of them just be turned away because of his brother. And it was obvious that his brother was about to make this a whole lot harder then it needed to be._

"_Don't listen ta him" He found himself speaking. By now there was a small crowd group around the man. He glanced over at them. An older woman with her son wrapped around her leg, a family of Latino's, a couple of blonde women who looked like they were sisters. A little blonde girl stood underneath her mother, an older looking woman who looked like she'd seen one too many bad days in her life. _

"_We been by ourselves a while. 'S hard work taking shifts jus tween the two of us and sleepin in a truck. We won't cause no trouble. We'll set up in the woods o'er there and stay outta yur way" He explained _

_The man paused and look back and forth between the two brothers. It was more then apparent that he didn't like Merle, the two stood of growling at each other waiting for the other to back down. Merle didn't like that he wasn't the one in charge._

"_Daryl was it?" He asked and he replied with a grunt._

"_You two can stay. But don't think that I ain't afraid to kill ya if something goes wrong" He growled and as if to emphasize his point his fingertips brushed the holstered gun at his hip. He wanted to scoff and refute that he'd be able to draw his bow and shoot him straight between the eyes before he had time to draw. Aint nobody messed with or threatened the Dixon brothers. He had a bad feeling about the man in front of them. Is this really who everyone decided was in charge?_

"_The name is Shane" The man finally spoke before turning around and walking away adjusting the hat on his head. _

_Daryl glanced over to Merle who clearly wasn't as happy with the way thing had turned out. _

"_Yur too soft Darlena" He muttered before heading back to the truck and slamming the door. Daryl glanced back to the crowd of people again, taking notice of that older woman with her little girl. They look so frightened. At first he thought it was Merle but then he watched as a large ugly son of a bitch came up behind her and he watched as she nearly jumped out of her skin. The man grabbed her by the back of her shirt and started pulling her away from the scene. Her reaction to him was one of fear. He'd seen that reaction before; it was similar to his own. 'Poor thing' was the last thing that he remembered thinking before Merle's ranting brought him back to reality and they made their way back to the truck to start setting up._

He found T at the other side of the prison scowling in disgust as zombies pressed their ugly faces against the closed fence and screeched out as fresh blood came towards them. He regarded Daryl's presence with a nod.

"Go get sum sleep" He spoke to the man.

"Thanks man" T returned. He hefted the machete over his shoulder with a smile and tiredly made his way back to the ring of survivors in the field.

When Rick and the others had first approached him about Merle and having left him on the roof he was furious with them. Just because his brother was an annoying son of a bitch didn't give them any right to just leave him on some roof in the middle of a geek infested city to die. What if it had been one of their own family members? He didn't want to have anything to do with those people after that.

But after that Rick had time and time again proved himself to be trustworthy in his eyes. The man was doing everything he could despite the odds that were stacked against him. And so when someone looked to him for advice and started including him the decision making process well there was some part of him that wanted to fuck Merle to hell because he said it would have never been possible. Aint no way somebody's gonna trust a red neck like you was what he always said. It was clear that the gate in front of him was holding out well, nothing had gotten in or out the entire night. So he decided to walk the perimeter of the yard just to make sure nothing had happened in the middle of the night.

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The sun was bright and in her face when Carol woke for the morning. It was quiet and some of group had already gotten up and started moving for the day. The fire had been re-lit and something was already cooking. She'd spent the whole night asleep for once. She couldn't remember the last time she had managed to fall asleep and stay asleep without having a nightmare. As she looked around for the first time this morning she noticed that Daryl was gone and that T had returned, already fast asleep.

She was awake in the middle of the night when it happened. Rick had just switched with T and had gone off to lay with Carl and Lori; she watched as T left and took up a position on the opposite side. As she looked to everyone around her she say Daryl laying there head propped up on his hands lying on his back. After being with the group all this time she realized that not once had she ever seen the man sleep. He was always awake before her and went to bed much later then she could manage to stay up.

Before that even when they were in Atlanta, he and his brother slept in the middle of the woods separated from the rest of the group. It was one of those moments where she found herself thinking 'wow am I really surprised by something so little.' Seeing someone sleep wasn't anything that a normal person found to be interesting but there she was kneeling near him as his chest rose in even breaths peacefully asleep. Even in his sleep he looked tough and she feared at that any second his eyes would snap open and his weapon would be at her throat. But he never woke and as much as she wanted to sit there and watch the man sleep she was too tired herself to stay awake. So instead of crawling back over to her spot on the other side of the fire she simply laid down near him with a smile.

She looked around and spotted him leaning over one of the railings of the guard tower which Rick had taken the day before. His crossbow was at his back and paced slowly back and forth scanning over the entire outlay.

"Good morning" She heard Lori greet and she turned her attention away from the hunter in the sky.

"Morning Lori" She responded

"Breakfast is ready" She spoke "Rick wants everyone to eat so we can get moving with today. We have a lot of work to do"

Carol nodded in reply and sat herself down near the fire. Many items which had no use now due to the lack of electricity were finding purpose. Someone had taken an old fan and turned it into a grate in which they could cook food on the open flames of the fire. They were starting to run low on food and water now. Rick was hoping that the prison had fallen to this plague long ago and that most of its resources were still available. For everyone's sake she hoped he was right.

When most of the group had eaten their meal and Beth and Andrea started to take the dishes away Carol watched as what she called the Strike Team formed up. Rick led the group away from the rest of them as if to discuss some secret plan that the rest of the group couldn't know about. The group consisted of Rick, Daryl, Maggie, Glenn and T-Dog.

"The five us will get inside that gate and make our way for the warden's tower. There's sure to be keys in there. Once we get them we can go inside and take care of one cell block" Rick planned.

"You ever been inside a prison like this?" Maggie asked

"No. Back where I was sheriff we had a small little jail. But the layout ought to be same just on a much bigger scale"

"So once we get the keys, we go in there and clear out where were gonna sleep. What about the rest of it?" T asked

"We'll figure out what to do when we get in there. First we gotta take care of all these walkers" Rick spoke "We have to do this old fashion way. Hand to hand"

He was greeted with looks of discouragement. Guns had been their best friends against these things. The chances of getting bitten were lower when they were at range and with so many walkers inside those gates it could become a major problem.

"After all we've been through…we can handle it I know it" He tried to encourage. "These assholes don't stand a chance" He received a few nods and a couple of weak smiles but it was good enough for him. No one opposed him because after all that he had done for them and never let them down they would keep following whatever worked.

The group reconvened a few minutes after but only to look at their small arsenal of weapons and choose which one they wanted for the oncoming slaughter. Daryl had his crossbow and knife of course, those two never changed. T was carrying a long thin metal pipe, Glenn a long pipe in one hand and a big knife in the other and Maggie carried with her the machete. After returning from a talk with Lori, Rick nodded to the group and they headed towards the gate. The rest of the group followed watching those who were about again put their lives on the line.

Carol wondered why so few of them went. There were so many walkers and it would go a lot faster if more people went with them. Especially people like Andrea and Michonne, why hadn't Rick taken them along? They were both great fighters. And she knew that she wasn't that great of a shot yet but she was able to use a knife, she'd killed one or two walkers in this journey so far. No one expected anything out of poor Carol. Swallowing the bitterness she felt she muttered her 'good lucks' and 'be safes'. Hershel had a hand upon the gate ready to slide it open while Rick took the clips off the doors.

"Ready?" He asked the group and they nodded. He let the clips go and they dropped to the ground. Hershel quickly slid open the door and immediately Daryl dove into the gate and already stabbed one through the eye. T was right behind him and jammed the pipe through the skull of another. Within seconds the silence had turned into a battlefield and the moans and shrieks of walkers filled the air along with the sound of metal forcing its way through bone and back out again. The aggravated cries of the warriors rang out as they pushed, hacked and shoved their weapons through the bodies of the oncoming waves of walkers. All the while they kept moving in a tight formation.

They kept close to each other with their backs together and they moved quickly and efficiently. When a walker would come close the nearest person would dart out, make the kill and return to the formation. The team worked in a constant motion never once losing the rhythm that they had. Rick hacked at a walker in front of him and while he was still moving forward, Glenn came from behind and stabbed the knocked down target through the skull with his pipe. As they got closer to their destination, T picked up a rather large riot shield and took point. He bashed a walker back and Maggie leapt out from behind him to stab it once it had hit the ground. Glenn grasped for her hand after she had made her kill and the kept moving forward.

All the while the other group stood behind the fence banging out I like they had yesterday to get the walkers attention. Some of them took the bait and they once again popped them through the fence. Even if it was a small amount of walkers compared to their friends they would do anything to help them out.

As they moved further into the prison yard they reached a red door. Rick went to open it and found nothing inside, this wasn't the place they were looking for. As he went to turn the corner he saw the mass amount of walkers huddling around the area. They were all standing in front of an open gate and they had just realized that something was there. He darted back quickly stopping the group. The pressed their backs against the wall and stood for a moment to catch their breath. Daryl stood behind them his crossbow aimed and ready to go. In front of them a set of walkers came from around another corner. They were wearing guard outfits including a face mask. AS they came closer to the group Daryl raised his bow and released and arrow but it simply bounced off and fell to the ground.

Back at the original gate which had already been clipped close to make sure nothing got into their area the group was still pressed up against the fence. Carol moved to Lori's position.

"Do you see them? I can't see them" Lori panicked

"Their back there" Carol gestured. The only one thing that she was able to see to prove that they were over in that direction was a pair of dirty wings.

It was a difficult situation. The zombies had died in these outfits and even though they didn't have the brain capacity to realize it they were well armed they made it much more difficult. Still the team did their best to fight back against the new and tougher to kill enemy. The only way to kill a walker was to kill the brain but they couldn't do anything but push them to the ground when their faces were covered behind the masks. As T did his best to bash one to the ground he noticed Glenn and Rick both trying to attack a different one in the chest with their weapons. But the armor that they wore reflected the blows and kept the zombies safe.

He glanced back and noticed Daryl who shoved a walker to the ground with his bow and followed up by stabbing her through the eye with his knife. He watched the expression on the man's face and examined the kill. There was something different about that walker then the rest of these. For one it was a woman, it was the first one he had seen since they had been outside the prison walls. There was no time to think about that right now though because they ere too busy making sure that these knew tougher zombies didn't find a way to get them all killed.

Out of the corner of his eye Daryl watched as Rick lunged forward and tackled an armored zombie to the ground. More of them were coming in the through the gate and without thinking he rushed to the man's side instinctively knowing his plan. He followed behind him quickly, avoiding the blood splash coming from Rick decapitating the walker in front of him. As Rick raced past him towards the gate he grabbed a nearing walker by the side of the head and jammed his knife straight through. He let the body drop and hurried after Rick who made a jumping kick to knock one square in the chest. The zombie fell back inside of the gate collapsing from the momentum and bringing a few other walkers to the ground. He took the opportunity to begin closing the gate. Rick clasped on as well and clipped the gate shut quickly. They made a quick recognition of each other and then Rick was running off again towards the rest of the fight.

At least there was one thing accomplished. He watched while he was heading back into the fight that Maggie was struggling with one of the armored zombies. She pressed against it, her knife buried against the armor and began pushing it backwards. Finally after a few more moments of struggling with it she drew machete up to its throat and jabbed into the exposed skin of its neck. The zombie collapsed In front of her and she turned around to the others with a huge grin on her face.

"See that!?"

Finally someone had figured out how to deal with these things. They immediately took their newfound knowledge to use and began to run around to every armored zombie and copied her move. Glenn and T approached one and while Glenn lifted the helmet up to expose its rotting throat T jabbed his pole up though it. Daryl appeared behind another and slid the knife just under the helmet and jabbed it through. He watched as Rick kicked a zombie down three times making sure it fell to the ground. He loomed over it ripping off its mask and sneering in disgust as most of the walkers flesh came off with it. It writhed and squirmed under him and with scowl of hared he stabbed his weapon horizontally through its right eye socket and wiggled the black back and forth until the creature had nearly been decapitated.

Behind him Maggie grabbed a hold of the last one picking up the helmet and jabbing it through the face. It dropped without another sound. She pulled back her arm and gripped her weapon tightly. He looked around. The whole group was covered head to toe in walker blood. Maggie's entire right arm was blood stained as she pulled her weapon away from her last kill. He looked to himself and to Rick especially whose clothes had suffered worse. And after all that work that Carol and the other weapon just put into to washing all those clothes. They didn't get a lot of chances to do such.

But the good thing was that the fight was over, for the time being. They had managed to clear out this part of the outside but they still had yet to achieve their goal and that as to find the warden's keys. After a moment of rest the group backtracked through a steel door and up a set of stairs.

Carol watched for the second time today as the group disappeared to somewhere the rest of the group couldn't see. The others around her were just as restless. They all wanted this to just be over so they could get on with everything. Well there was certainly no use in standing around while they waited, know knew how long they were going to take in there. She put down her weapon and set herself down on the dying grass.

As she waited for them to come back she leaned up against the fence and started to think about the first time that she'd ever seen the hunter. The day that he and his brother had first come to their camp back in Atlanta.

_She had just gotten back from the side of the river where the other women were gathered and washing clothes. Her hands were cold and pruny from their long dip in the water and she returned to her tent to warm them up. As she neared her tent Sophia came rushing out with a grin on her face. _

"_Your back!" She called and jumped into her mother's arms. She relished in the feeling of her baby girl in her arms. She was the light in her life and every day she thanked God that she had the world's most perfect daughter. _

"_There's something going on momma" The girl spoke sticking the tip of her thumbnail in her mouth and nervously chewing on it. _

"_What's going on honey?" She asked her daughter petting the top of her head._

"_Some assholes looking for a place" Came the gruff voice of her husband. She nearly grimaced when she heard him and forced herself to put a smile on her face. He loomed above her and Sophia and looked down upon them with a scowl on his face. "Aint none of your concern…Shane'll take care of it"_

_As much as she hated to disobey Ed, knowing full well she would probably get punished for it later she glanced over at the ensuing scene. Two men faced Shane. They looked like they were brothers and judging from their truck and the way they dressed they were folks who lived in the rural part of the state. _

_The older looking looked wider with more muscle everywhere. His hair was short and graying and he had a mean scowl on his face. The other was younger, he was thin and muscular but in a lean way. He carried a crossbow on his back and she noticed that his face held a much softer expression then the other man. She wasn't sure why but when she saw the younger man something in her fluttered. He was attractive that wouldn't lie about that, but there was something about him that she liked, she just couldn't put her finger on it. _

"_Couple of hicks" Ed growled from behind her grabbed her by the collar of her shirt. "What did I tell you" He added. Sophia looked at her with a frown on her face. The worst part of this wasn't that she constantly had new bruises and every day she woke up wondering if it would be her last. No, she was worried for the safety of her daughter and all the damage seeing her mother being abused was going to cause her. As she was being dragged off she took on last look in the direction of the newcomers. The younger man, looked over towards her and she felt sick. The first time he ever saw her and she was being hauled off by her monster of a husband like an animal. She hung her head in defeat and let herself be taken away all the while thinking, I didn't even get to hear his name._

As if to pull her away from the thoughts and memories she heard the sound of an opening door and a creaking metal gate. She along with the other's raised their heads towards the noise and watched as Maggie and Glenn made their way out of the door and down the step. Despair flooded over Carol. Where were Rick, T and Daryl? Had they come across a room and been overrun? As Hershel set to opening the gate the young couple jogged over to the fence.

"We're all in. the others are doing some last minute cleaning" Glenn announced with a smile.

Carol sighed in relief. So they had just come out as messengers. Everyone was alright. Daryl was alright. She knew she shouldn't be that worried about it. He'd proven time and time again that he could survive even when he was up against the most difficult of situations.

"How is it in there?" Lori asked

"Like home sweet home" Glenn answered

Although the likelihood of a prison being comparable to a real home was slim to none, it was certainly the best thing for them now. She didn't know what to expect when she got inside having never been inside a prison. There had been some times where she had to fetch Ed out of a holding cell for being an asshole drunk at the bars sometimes but she didn't think they would look anything like this place on the inside. She imaged it to be cold and grey with a lot of cells. It was a cruel thought to think that they were going to be sleeping in prison cells but the bars offered protection in case something went wrong.

The rest of the group picked up the items they had with them and followed Glenn and Maggie up the steps and into Cellblock C. As they walked in behind them, the body of a walker was tossed over the railing on the second floor. It hid the floor with a crack and T immediately grabbed it by the legs and set to hauling it out of the building. There were blood smears and stains on the floors and walls of the place. The cells were lined up all spaced together to fit as many possible prisoners.

"Is it secure?" Carol found herself asking aloud.

"This cellblock is" Rick answered coming down the stairs to meet them. Daryl was at his back his crossbow already put away. She knew that Rick was telling the truth. If Daryl wasn't on the edge about being safe then no one was.

"What about the rest of the prison?" Hershel asked

"In the morning we'll look for the cafeteria and the infirmary"

"We sleep in the cages?" Beth asked her voice showing her uncomfort with the idea. She wasn't the only one. Carol included. She could see the looks on some of their faces. They didn't want to sleep in the cells in which prisoners used to lie and do who knows what. Not to mention a lot of the cells still had bloodstains. That was the first thing Carol as going to do if she could, clean the walls of these cells.

"We found some keys on some guards. Daryl has a set too" Rick answered "It'll be safe" He added afterwards as a reassurance

"I ain't sleepin in no cage" She heard him say as he popped his head over the side of the railing. "I'll take the perch" Gesturing towards the small landing after you climbed up the ladder to the second level.

It was stupid to think that he'd want to sleep near her. She didn't know why she thought that after a few little exchanges between them that he would have any want to come and sleep near here, or even in the same cell. Then again he didn't want to sleep in the cells at all. When she realized that she was acting like a child the thought that Daryl, the lone tracker, the outdoors man all rugged and wild sleeping in some cage was completely unnatural. She chuckled at the thought of him being cooped up and it reminded her of some beautifully vicious bird.

"Come on" Carol said to Lori with a smile. She grabbed the women by the wrist as they set out to find their cell. To Carol's delight they found on the second floor not far from where Daryl was sitting right now. His poncho had been lain out and he was fiddling with his crossbow when the two women came up the steps.

He watched over everyone from his perch, making sure that everyone was finding a place to sleep and taking note of all of them chose to reside. He wasn't all that shocked when he saw Carol and Lori come up the steps. She regarded him with a smile but continued to lead Lori to the line of cages on the walls not far from him. They chose one that was only a few paces away from where he currently was. Good, the thought of having Carol so close in case something did happen relieved him. Ever since the farm when he found he running away from the rest of the group and almost choosing to opt out he'd kept a close watch on her. He wanted to protect her from the walkers and from herself.

Carol walked into their cell, their new room, and set down her stuff against the wall. She and Lori sat down on the bottom bunk and she glanced around the room. It was small and for someone who had a mild case of claustrophobia it was almost too small for comfort. It was dark and it smelled but it was safe and right now that was the most important thing. She glanced over to Lori whose hand rested on her stomach and smiled at the women. Things didn't need to be as dreary as they really were. They were safe and Lori had a little miracle on the way. She remembered the feelings she got when she was carrying Sophia and she watched as the smile she was wearing came onto Lori's face as if she knew what Carol was thinking.

She patted the women on the knee who took it as a sign that she was getting up and leaving. She sighed heavily and lay down against the small uncomfortable looking beds.

"There not so bad actually" Lori said and another grin came across Carol's face.

As she left the cell she couldn't help but wondering if this was going to be their home forever. It was secure enough and thought she knew they were still going to have to go and make supply runs to get more things she found they would really live here. They had everything they needed. They had the fence and the yard to play in. The only thing that was missing was the dog. She stepped outside of her cell and hung over the railing. She heard the low mummers of the others talking on the level below them and she watched sadly as Rick fell to his knees and then leaned up against the wall. Poor man, he must be tired. With all the work he did he needed a good rest though she wondered why it was she that was sharing a cell with Lori and not Rick.

She looked away from him and found herself looking at Daryl, who chose that exact moment to look up as well. Her gaze met his and although part of her was still worried about them living in this situation which could still prove to be dangerous, the calm look in his steel eyes was reassuring. She offered him a small smile in which he returned with that signature smirk of his. After a moment of just staring into his eyes she reluctantly looked away and turned to head back into the cell.


	8. Chapter 8

Hey everyone. I'm so so so so sorry I haven't updated since before Christmas. I wanted to so badly but every time I tried to write I just got stuck. I think it was because it was just sad that Walking Dead wasn't on anymore…but now it is! So I expect to be writing a bit more. It really helps that so many people wanted me to keep going even though I was thinking about stopping this one. It makes me feel really good cause I didn't think it was that great, but you guys seem to think otherwise.

So will be continuing, slowly but surely. Also, I do plan to start another D/C fic sometime soon. I'm trying to piece it together, it's going to be a song fic that follows the plot I think. Not completely sure. Anyways, thanks again everyone, heres the next chapter.

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A long seven months had passed since their grand triumph into the prison. They were living in relative comfort, well about as much as a group of misfits could in the middle of a zombie apocalypse at the end of the world. Little by little the survivors did their best to fix up the prison and make a suitable living environment. It was still dark, they hadn't had electricity for months now but they were able to find some candles and matches which they used for lights at night.

As much as they tried to make everything better, something's inevitably went bad. Lori's baby was born right on schedule, Hershel and Carol had been right there at her side when she had gone into labor. But even the old man who'd saved the life of her son wasn't a miracle worker. Without the modern technology of medicine and proper medical care, while delivering the baby, Lori lost too much blood and died in the process of bringing the new life into the world. It seemed that one life could not come into the world without another one leaving. Rick was devastated, for days after the birth of his daughter he neglected to come anywhere near her, his son, or the rest of the group. He went on a violent rampage through the unclear halls of the prison and he alone cleared out blocks which were filled with dozens of hungry walkers.

None of the group could stop him; many had tried and had almost gotten killed themselves. There was a point where Glenn had gotten too close for comfort and winded up with his back to the wall and an axe pressed against his neck. They didn't try going after him after that. After the death of his mother and his father acting so crazy, Carl had grown much colder. He was quiet and did his work as he was told. He was reclusive and had even gone out by himself a few times and come back covered in the blood of fallen walkers. It was one thing to deal with an emotionally unstable cop, but dealing with an emotionally disturbed child who'd just lost his mother and had to deal with his crazy father was both confusing and heartbreaking. No one in the group had much of a clue on how to deal with the situation.

Before Lori had passed away, the group of men had wandered through the prison and found a group of living humans which were held up in the cafeteria of the prison. Rick and his group had tried to reason with them and it had succeeded for the most part. One man, Tomas, had given the sheriff more trouble then he wanted to deal with. Suffice to say that he didn't make it out alive. At the end of it all, only two had made it. After a long discussion with the rest of the group they decided to keep the prisoners Oscar and Axel in a separate block and to have as little contact with them as possible but alive nonetheless. They weren't a group of barbarians after all and they were tired of having to kill other humans.

Carol had been deeply hurt by the death of Lori. True that sometimes the women tended to be a bit of a bitch and that wasn't because of the hormones, but she was still a good friend. She'd never really gotten close with any of the other women at camp except for Jacqui. Now that their ranks were much thinner there weren't as many friends to be had. It was nice to have another woman around that she could talk to on a day to day basis about everyday bits in their lives and now she didn't even have that.

Other then small talk there weren't many people she really sat down and had a conversation with now. In her old life, Ed hadn't allowed her to go out and be social with the other women in their neighborhood. She was expected to stay at home and do all the chores and where there weren't any chores to do then she was to sit around and take care of Sophia. The only freedom she had was to go out and get the shopping done for the house. It was sad but other than her daughter, it was the only thing of the week she looked forward too. Even if it was only an hour she was still happy to drive and get out of the house and say hi to the women in the stores.

Over the months before the prison she had started to become closer to the gruff redneck who still to this day wasn't one for conversation. Most of the time it was one sided with only a few replies on his part but she enjoyed it. What upset her was that over the past seven months nothing much had happened between the two of them. Before they had shared a pretty intimate moment, one that still made her blush when she thought about it, and it seemed like over the seven months they had moved back further. They were at a point where even though they slept in close quarters and saw each other all the time they didn't speak much. Usually only when they had to about the survival of the group, never about anything other than food or how long before they needed to make another run.

She found herself inside her cell again. It was where she spent most of her time now when she wasn't cooking meals or doing the laundry. She didn't come out much to interact with everyone, it seemed like everyone avoided her anyways. The sun had already fallen for the night and her cell was dark and cold. She drew her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them as she gazed out the metal bars of her 'room' She sighed heavily watching the mouths of Andrea and Michonne move in conversation as they talked late into the night again.

The room was lonely and quiet without Lori there. Sometimes they would stay up as well and talk as though they were teenagers at a sleepover, just about girl's things. She missed that. It was a way to escape from the hell they were in if even for a moment. In the silence of the prison the moans of the dead invaded the air and sent shivers through her spine. It reminded her that even though they had four walls and metal doors there was still danger in their midst.

Sleep never came easy to her lately and this night was no exception. She was up to hear rattling of chains coming from somewhere beyond the safety of their doors and when Rick came crashing through the doors for the night breathing heavily and cursing to himself. When Judith had woken up for her fifth, sixth and seventh time for the night. And for when Hershel and Daryl had come in from the first watch and Michonne and Andrea went out for the night. She watched as the quiet ebony women brushed past Daryl with a nod of acknowledgment and headed out to take watch. She watched as his tired form stepped lightly up the stairs and towards his makeshift bed. There was a soft clatter of him setting down his weapons and the thud of his body as he hit the cement and then everything was still again. There were no other sounds then that of her soft breathing. Again she was left alone with only silence and tormenting thoughts.

Nonetheless she lay down against the thin mattress and stared at the ceiling hoping for sleep to come soon.

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The next day came quickly and the morning passed by as though it was never really there. The sun was high in the mid afternoon and some of the group was outside looking around the grounds, herself included. Daryl and Glenn were leading a group to clear out more of the outside yards and to make sure there were no places in which more walkers could get into the building. As the group made their way around the grounds Daryl signed for them to halt as he came across something which peaked his interest. There were several gates around the grounds which Rick had clipped closed so that many walkers could stay trapped within small parts of the prison.

"See here" He mentioned to Glenn who trotted over to his side wiping his brow

"Gate's been clipped" He spoke fingering the clean edges of the split fence. "Who 'ere did this had a pair a cutters like we do" His eyes darted around quickly surveying the scene. They narrowed and he knelt to the ground touching the smudges in the dirt.

"There's his footprint, 's a small guy runnin around"

"Could it be a woman?" Glenn asked

He huffed not particularly fond of the answer, he didn't think a women could do something as cruel as this but hell, a lot of things had changed in this new world

"Could be" He mumbled standing up and looking around the area. His brother had been the one to train him to track and although his knowledge was usually used for the purpose of tracking down animals for supper, he was just as good at tracking down people. The area was mostly barren. The grass was long dead and there was hardly any green in the open fields of the prison yards. He glanced around the deserted yard brushing through the gate grabbing the clips which held the gates together as he walked by. He fingered the cold metal and took in the sight before him.

Ahead of him on the asphalt pavement laid the carcass of a rather large deer. There wasn't much left to it and as he approached it he could hear the buzzing of flies and the smell of decay. The animal had been laying here for a while and judging by the little amount of meat on the body, the walkers in this area had long eaten their fill. He signaled for the rest of the group to follow him and quickly moved across the field to the side of the building. He flattened himself against the concrete and peered around its corner glancing into the prison yard. A dozen walkers wandered around aimlessly, their feet shuffling on the ground as they dragged around their broken limbs.

The rest of the group had caught up to him by now and he motioned them to be cautious but when he turned the corner with his crossbow aimed in front of him they followed suit and drew their weapons. A bolt landed itself between the eyes of the first walker and it went down to the ground with a thud. The rest of its 'friends' turned around to see what was going on and another landed in the center of one's forehead. From behind him he heard the slapping of feet against the pavement and heard a battle yell come from Glenn as he whizzed past with his pipe raised high. He brought the metal down in the center of the zombies head.

The hoarse moaning of the walkers rang out through the quiet air as one by one they fell to the ground under blade and bolt. The warriors were quick and efficient in their killings, they'd become ruthless and accustomed to it by now. There was no hesitation anymore, it meant almost certain death. Within moments they were already lowering their weapons and following Daryl who continued to move ahead of them and scout out the area. The area seemed to be clear, it was quiet around them but silence could be deceiving as well. As the group moved through the abandoned prison yards the tall skeleton of an old rusted basketball hoop loomed over them and dead plants tried to push through the cracks of the asphalt.

"Seems like we've cleared everything out" T spoke glancing around the area shielding his eyes from the sun as he did so

"Gues'so" Daryl agreed he lowered his crossbow and slung his favorite weapon over his shoulder.

The air around them was silent. It seemed for the moment there were no more walkers to kill, no more danger to get into. He wished it could always be this way. After everything that he had to deal with, be it the events of today or the ghosts of his past, a quiet day where no one died was the best possible outcome. But as everyone knows, these things don't always go the way we want them to. A loud blaring horn broke the silence. The speakers around the prison came alive with an obnoxious alert and Daryl spun around in a circle to observe. The group became panicked and raised their weapons.

"What the hell is that" T shouted

"Where's it coming from!"He heard Maggie exclaim

The amount of noise coming from this area was too much. Already he could hear the sounds of the dead and the rising voices from the group of panicked survivors were too much.

"Hush now" He barked to the group. The group fell silent.

"Runnin around like chickens with our heads cut off ain't gonna help" He spoke and although he could tell the group was shaken, it was clear that he had their attention.

"Now first things first we gotta get outta here and somewhere safer. All this noise is gonna attract any walkers around and judging by this broken fence I'm guessin that there's quite a bit of em still kickin"

"Where did they even come from?" Glenn asked "We've been so careful"

"Looks like there's someone here who don't want us" Daryl responded coldly and hurried back in the direction they came. His logic was simple, the way they came would be the safest due to the fact that they had already cleared the way and moving forward was walking into unknown territory. It would be more likely to walk into an ambush when they didn't know where they were going.

But usually when the shit gets rolling, it's a huge mess that just keeps getting bigger. As the group fled back in the direction from which they had come they found themselves face to face with a large group of walkers. Daryl mentioned for the group to draw in close and immediately the ring of fighters pressed their backs together and raised their weapons in front of them. The situation looked bleak. For as many walkers as the group cut down it seemed they were an endless hydra head, always new ones appearing. They were surrounded, the dead closing in on them from every angle.

There was no way Daryl as going to let all these people, his family, just die right now and there was no way he was going to die right now either. He glanced around frantically, searching for any way out of this. To the left and right there were entrances into the buildings. The stairs were surrounded with metal cages and it looked as though they could be locked from either side. The path to them was dangerous, but it was a good a plan as any.

"There" He motioned towards the two entrances. The group glanced towards both of them, wide eyes filled with fear. This group of walkers was nothing compared to the amount they had to deal with and run from on their last night of the farm, but brushing with death was enough to scare any of them. He nodded to them, raised his weapon and started clearing a path towards the right entrance. He heard the shuffling behind him, the brush of someone's arm against his and then he was off. He sprinted towards the stairs, shooting and kicking down walkers when he came in close contact with him. He heard the heavy thuds of bodies but dared not look back to look at the falling corpses. His right foot just touched the bottom stair, the old metal creaking underneath his heavy footfall. The only thing that would make him look back was…

Carol screaming.

He whipped around and looked over top Maggie and Glenn's head. Her scream pierced the sound of the living dead and he swore his heart stopped and his breath was caught in his breath. Did she get bit? His eyes were trained on her form but it wasn't herself that she was freaking out about. He panicked face and wide eyes were locked onto the bloodstain growing on the back of T-Dog's shoulder. Even from here he could see the ugly red-brown blossoming across his sweat stained shirt.

"No!" He heard her scream again.

Dammit. With Hershel, the walker had bit him at a spot that with Rick's quick thinking they were able to cut off and stop the infection from spreading. T-Dog was a whole different story and as much as he didn't want to think about it, he didn't have a whole lot of time left. Never before had this Dixon boy felt so many emotions towards anyone else, especially someone who wasn't family. But that was the thing, he was family, in this new twisted world all of these people were his family and seeing him scream out in pain as a walker took a huge chomp from his shoulder filled him with emotions he didn't think he was capable of.

He continued to fire at the zombies that were coming towards them and he watched as T-Dog shielded Carol behind him as they made their way into up the stairwell and into the building behind a locked door. Who knows what was behind that door and who knew how long T-Dog had left before he too was hunting Carol down. For now he had to trust the two of them to survive. There were more walkers starting to fill the courtyard, from where he wasn't sure. He growled and barked at Glenn and Maggie to follow him quickly. He nearly took the door of his hinges opening it the way he did and as soon as the three of them were behind the door he slammed it shut.

Maggie clicked on a flashlight and they scanned the immediate area. The place they were in seemed very familiar.

"Were not far from our block" Glenn spoke answering his question. "I came here to find Rick once" He gestured to a large blood spatter on the wall and silver scar on the wall.

"Nearly decapitated me" He added solemnly.

As much as the group owed their lives to Rick and trusted the man who got them this far, he was beginning to change, everyone could see that. As of now they were trying to avoid it, blaming it on the death of Lori and once he got over the fact that his wife was dead that their leader would go back to being heroic.

"What about Carol? And…" He words fell and the group fell silent. For the rest of the trip back they were silent, padding through the corridors quickly listening to Glenn's voice to guide them back home. Home. Where they would have to tell the rest of the family that T-Dog was as good as dead and they didn't know what was going to happen to Carol. After all, the weapon she was carrying was small and they had no idea how many walkers were in that part of the prison. Not to mention the fact that at any minute T could try to eat her too.

Daryl unlocked the door and the three of them walked into the common room. A few steps in and the annoying blaring which had been going on suddenly stopped. He glanced around; Rick wasn't in the room, maybe he had been the one to fix it then, no doubt with help. The rest of the group came to greet them, their faces immediately falling when they noticed there were two comrades too little.

"Where's T….and Carol?" Beth asked her voice barely above a whisper. She looked to her older sister and then father for comfort.

The room was silent for a minute. Three pairs of eyes were trained on the floor, not wanting to admit.

"They didn't make it" Daryl finally spoke grimly fixing the crossbow weighing heavily on his shoulder.

"…what?"Carl squeaked

"What happened!?" Andrea commanded.

"That blaring attracted a lot of walkers" Glenn started

"It shouldn't matter, we had all those places secure. We checked!" Carl rebutted

"Someone else is here. Someone who don't want us here. They clipped the gates" Daryl explained tossing Hershel the broken clips they had found.

"When that blaring went off it attracted every goddamn walker in the area here. We got overrun. Glenn, Maggie and I took the entrance down the hall. Carol and T took the other"

"Then maybe they aren't dead!" Beth shouted, desperation lacing her voice and Daryl couldn't help let out a heavy sigh at the girl's hopefulness.

"Not quite sure bout Carol, but we all watched T get bit…" There he'd said it. The dirty truth that no one wanted to hear. "And he wasn't as lucky as Hershel"

The group fell silent again. He listened to the silent sniffling of the young blonde girl and the huffing of Carl. They were grieving over their lost friends and family and as he made his way up to his perch to get some rest after such a long day he found himself inside Carol's cell. He picked up the wilted Cherokee rose that sat on the bottom bunk of the bed and hugged his knees to his chest unable to stop himself from mourning either.

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It was dark in the hallway Carol was traveling in. It smelled and wet complimentary of the dead and broken pipes. She clutched the knife in her hand until her knuckles were white. Every step she took her breathing got heavier and she felt goose bumps crawl up her arm as she turned the next winding corner. She heard their moaning and the scratching their nails made against the walls. They were everywhere and she was lost. She had no idea how to get back to safety, if she was going the right way, or if she was even in the same building.

She kept moving no matter what, there was no way sitting in one place was going to help. She didn't think help was coming anytime soon. A moan to her left and she turned to face her foe. It was a walker that looked like at one point she could have been a really pretty women, with a pale complexion and flowing hair, but now she had lost an eye and the right side of her face had rotted off. Her thin papery limbs reached out to grab her and she dodged to the left, stepped forward and put all her force in a jab to the front of the zombie's skull. The knife slid in quickly, the walker made a choking noise and she quickly removed the knife. It felt to the ground with a thud and she sighed in relief.

But the relief never lasted. She quickly eyed a pack of zombies, at least five of them coming down the hall in the direction that this one had come from. She panicked. There was no way she could fight that many at once. She had a quick decision to make. There was a door to the right of her or she could take the hallway that went off to the right up ahead. She quickly decided that the door to her left would probably be the best option. As she turned to open the door, a fat walker came up much quicker then she had expected. Her arm with the knife moved automatically, to defend herself. It lodged itself sideways in the walker's neck but as she tried to get it back the walker went to claw her face.

Afraid of being infected she backed away from the zombie and as fast as she could she turned to open the door and locked herself inside catching two fingers of the zombie. She could hear the crunch of bone as the door slammed shut on them and she cringed. The room was small, a utility closest with nothing but an old rusted sink, a broom and a mop. There wasn't much room to walk and so she plopped down and put her head in her hands. For the first time after all the event of today she found herself breaking down. The tears were hot as they rushed from her eyes and down her face. She had lost T, she saw the zombie take a chomp out of him.

_The group had split up and she found herself with T-Dog, trying to fight their way out of a group of walkers that were rapidly approaching. He drew a gun out of his waistband, they didn't want to use them because they made so much noise but now…it seemed unrealistic to use one where they were a much louder noise consistently blaring. He quickly offed the closest zombies, but where one fell another took its place. She lunged forward protecting T from an incoming bite from the left jabbing the walker through the top of the skull._

"_Thanks" He said with a huge grin across his face. She nodded to him. "Let's move" he suggested gesturing towards the door up the stairs. She nodded and darted up the stairs quickly. He stood there for a few minutes and continued to shoot down any oncoming walkers. Finally the gun clicked empty and she could hear the frustrated groan that came from his lips. He stuck it back in the waist band of his pants and turned around to climb up the steps and that's when it happened._

_One moment she was just opening the door and then she heard the loud scream of pain that was unmistakably T-Dog. _

"_No!" She cried as she turned around to see what had happened. A tall skinny walker had managed to get close enough to him and took a large bite out of the back of his shoulder. She watched as he spun around and punched the walker hard enough that it cracked its skull. It fell down the steps, landing in front of more advancing walkers. They stumbled and fell over the body and struggled to get back up. He struggled a bit to get up the steps and she rushed over to him._

"_I'm fine let's get moving" He spoke coarsely. What could she do but nod and follow him. She stared at the wound on his back, it was red and angry and blood leaked from the broken skin and capillaries. She could see the muscle of his back and the faintest glimmer of bone. It made her sick to her stomach and she struggled not to throw up. _

_He pulled the door opened and darted inside beckoning her to follow him, that it was safe, for the time being. As she closed the door behind her, the light of day faded and once again it was pitch black. She heard rustling and T pulled a flashlight from the pocket of his pants. It clicked to life and he panned around the immediately area. Although she couldn't see any dead, she knew they were there. She could hear and smell them and knew there weren't many far off. _

"_This way" he told her and started moving down the hallway slowly. _

"_T…" She started after they two of them had taken a few steps. _

"_I'm okay" He mumbled_

"_No you're not. Your hurt…your"_

"_I don't have a lot of time left" He finished solemnly. And then it was silent again. She shrugged to remain calm. This man had been with them since the beginning of their journey, when they had all come together. He was a man of God and did what he could to bring everyone that he could find with him as he struggled to find somewhere safe, just like the rest of them. She was a woman of faith and yet…how could he allow something like this?_

"_T?" She asked finally after a long period of silence._

"_Yeah?" He answered_

"_Why do you think God let this happen" She mumbled, feeling tears come to her eyes again. He stumbled for a moment and then looked her in the eyes and frowned._

"_I don't know Carol….he works in mysterious ways" He answered pensively and she couldn't stop herself from scoffing._

"_Why would he kill millions of people. What purpose does that serve? There are thousands of innocent people dying because of a virus he let rampant. He killed my daughter!" She fell silent wiping her eyes with the back of her arm. He only sighed but said nothing more on the subject. After a few more minutes of silent thoughts she heard the sound of shuffling, the sound that came from dead limbs being dragged across the floor. _

_She drew her knife and held it out in front of her. She watched T draw a long knife as well and peeked around the corner. _

"_Two of em" He mumbled. He glanced around and nodded towards them. "Come on" he spoke holding the knife at his side. Beyond the two of them there was a split in the hallway, one side looked clear of any dead, the other had four or five. She watched as he glanced back and forth and noticed his eyebrow furrowing, calculating a plan._

"_Here's what were gonna do" He spoke softly. "There's only two in this hallway. It's your best chance. I'll distract them and make sure you get further"_

"_You can't" She pleaded_

"_Carol. I don't have much time left, but you can still make it. I'll make sure you survive" He reasoned. _

_She knew that he was doing the right plan. Soon the virus would take effect, even T Dog wouldn't be able to survive it and once it did, he would be just like them. But she didn't want to leave him. Right now he was still alive and she couldn't help but feel like she would be leaving him to die. But he didn't give her a chance to think about it anymore. He was already barreling down the hallway. His arms outstretched and he grabbed the two walkers around their necks and ran forwards with them. Her limbs didn't want to move and her first step forward was shaky and she felt as though she was going to fall. But she kept her balance and fled down the hall, knife at her side as T crushed the two walkers into the wall ahead of him._

_She stopped by his side her eyes wide with panic and tears. _

"_Go!" He shouted at her his eyes dark and voice commanding. She shook her head tears flowing freely. His frown turned to a smile and she knew that if he wasn't holding back two cannibal corpses that he would be hugging her. _

"_We won't forget you" She whispered and without anymore hesitating she spun around and raced down the hallway and away from her friend. _

And now here she was, cramped in this little room, unknowing what was going to come next or even if she was going to get of this mess alive. She was tired and weak but it seemed for the time being she was safe from the masses of dead around her. She slumped against the wall, breathing heavily, eyes closed. She wondered if the rest of them managed to get back to the rest of the group. Were Maggie and Glenn consoling each other in the private of their cell? Was he there telling her that everything was going to be okay?

And what about Daryl? What was he thinking right now? Was he worried about her safety right now? Although the two of them hadn't made any progress with each other in the past seven months, he was still her best friend here and she wondered if he was upset that she was missing. Was he planning to come and find her? But really why would he? He didn't know where she was and it was more of a hassle for the group to wander around the prison without knowing where they were going then to come and find her. She realized that as much as she wanted to be back there with everyone else, to laugh along with them and to see Daryl again, that she was probably going to die in this little room here.

She thought about going out in the hallway and just fighting until she didn't have anything left in her and a zombie did what it did best, but the thought reminded her of what happened to her little girl and she promised her that it wouldn't happen to her as well. She looked at the knife in her hands and held it to her wrist, her hands shook and she removed the metal from her skin and then she pressed against the soft flesh of her neck. She held it there for a moment and then let out a long shaky sigh. She held out the knife to her side and let it drop to the ground and buried her head in her hands again. She knew she was going to die but she didn't even have the will to off herself here.

So for the time being she sat there, crying, thinking about the people that she loved and fell into a much needed sleeping thinking about steel blue eyes and crossbow bolts.

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End file.
